Ched Evans: 'True friend' of footballer Ciaran Goggins 'abused rape victims online'

A "true friend" of rapist Ched Evans has been shunned by supporters of the player for allegedly posting slurs about the footballer's victim online.

Ciaran Goggins was cut adrift by the 'Justice for Ched' campaign after he also added a link to a site which illegally identifies the woman Evans raped, reported The Guardian.

She has been exposed previously by supporters of Evans, forcing her to live "on the run" and change her identity five times.

A photograph of Goggins used to appear on the website run by Evans' girlfriend's family and he boasted of being the out-of-work player's "true friend and supporter". The 'Justice for Ched' campaign even hailed Goggins as a "hero" for his efforts in 2013.

But his image has now pulled down from the website in the wake of fresh claims about his latest actions, which Goggins defended as being legal. A string of Twitter accounts he used for his activities have been suspended over their content, too.

A Justice for Ched spokesman indicated that Goggins is no longer part of the campaign to overturn Evans' rape conviction.

"Up until we were aware of his derogatory comments last week, we viewed him as a conscientious supporter of Ched. When we understood some of the tweets were totally unreasonable and unpalatable his image was removed from the site.

"To be clear we have now cut all communication with Ciaran Goggins or anyone who purports to be Ciaran Goggins and will not interact with anyone who uses social media to attack anyone."

Evans has tried and failed two times to reignite his football career since being freed after serving half his five year jail sentence for rape. Uproar online greeted news he was poised to join League One club Oldham Athletic, sparking a petition which garnered 70,000 signatures.

Evans appealed against the rape conviction but lost. His solicitor has now applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to submit new evidence in another bid to get the conviction overturned.