Patrice Evra handed suspended 12 month prison sentence

He owes over £800,000 in alimony.

The former Manchester United and West Ham United left-back was found guilty of abandoning his wife and their two children over a two-year period.

The former Premier League star separated from Sandra in 2020, and began a new relationship with Danish model Margaux Alexandra, to whom he is now engaged and shares two more children.

The 12-month punishment has been suspended for two years with provisional execution but the former captain of the French national team has been ordered to pay his wife €4,000 (£3,358) for moral damages and €2,000 (£1,679) for legal costs.

Evra has launched an appeal against the decision, the prosecution has confirmed, with Jerome Boursican, his lawyer, insisting 'the facts are disputed' by his client. 

"Mr Patrice Evra filed an appeal, knowing that he provided his wife with an apartment, a house with a swimming pool in the south of France and that he lent her almost two million euros for her daily life," Boursican said.

Evra and his soon-to-be-ex wife will continue to fight out the issue through the courts. Whether or not Evra's appeal will be heard remains to be seen.

Sir Alex Ferguson signed Evra from Monaco for a fee of £5.5 (€6.5) million in January 2006. He spent eight years at the club, during which he won 14 trophies including five Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League.