Former Manchester United star Patrice Evra has been given a suspended prison sentence after being “found guilty of abandoning his wife and children”.

Former Manchester United star Patrice Evra has been given a suspended sentence after being found guilty of abandoning his family.

The 43-year-old former captain of the French national team was ordered to pay his wife 4,000 euros in damages and a further 2,000 euros in legal fees.

Evra was given a suspended sentence for failing to pay his ex-wife almost a million pounds in maintenance.

Judges in the Paris suburb of Nanterre ruled that 43-year-old Evra had effectively “abandoned” 42-year-old Sandra Evra and her children – a boy now 19 and a 10-year-old girl – between May 1, 2021, and September 28, 2023.

The footballer’s lawyers immediately appealed against Tuesday’s ruling, which came after years of legal battle.

Evra, who became a multimillionaire after a hugely successful playing career, is said to owe his ex-wife a total of €969,000 (£814,000) in unpaid maintenance.

“The sentence was 12 months in prison, suspended for two years,” a source from the prosecution service at the Hauts-de-Seine criminal court said on Friday.

“Mr Evra’s legal team immediately appealed.”

Evra was also ordered to pay his ex-wife €4,000 (£3,360) in non-pecuniary damages and €2,000 (£1,700) in legal fees.

Nathalie Dubois, Ms Evra’s lawyer, said: “I hope that thanks to this decision, Patrice Evra will finally understand that he is not above the law and that we cannot abandon our wife and children overnight.”

“Even more so as they met at the age of 15 and she followed him around the world to support his football career.”

Jérôme Boursican, Mr Evra’s representative, insisted to Le Parisien that his client “disputes the facts”.

Mr Boursican said: ‘Mr Patrice Evra appealed despite knowing that he had provided his wife with an apartment and a house with a swimming pool in the south of France and had lent her almost two million euros for her living expenses.

“A sum that she does not want to pay back and that is the reason for this process.”

The Evras married in 2007, but divorce proceedings began around 2020 when the former Manchester United, Juventus and Marseille defender was photographed kissing Danish model Margaux Alexandra.

Since then, Mr Evra and Margaux Alexandra have had two children of their own and presumably live in Dubai.

Last year, the former Red Devils captain was fined €1,000 (£890) and ordered to pay €2,000 (£1,780) in compensation to two anti-hate campaign groups for posting homophobic slurs.

Stop Homophobia and Mousse complained in March 2019 when Evra posted a video of himself on social media after a match between United and Paris Saint-Germain.

“Paris, you are gay, you are gay,” said Evra, causing outrage across France and beyond after the Champions League match.

Evra accused his old club of being more macho than PSG, adding: “Here it is the men who talk.”

Evra was born in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and moved to Paris as a small child.

In 2020, Sandra Evra spoke publicly about the affair, which eventually led to divorce after 25 years together.

She said her “lifelong love story turned into a nightmare” and the man she once idolized had turned into a “tyrannical rat.”

She said: “We had a wonderful family Christmas, a fantastic holiday together in the Maldives and at New Year we kissed and cuddled together after a night out as a family with our son and daughter.”

“Two days later he left our house in Paris to go to work in London and said he would be back in two weeks. And I have never spoken to him since. He tried to banish me from my life.

“I saw photos of him with another woman in London and then I got a call from my lawyer telling me he wanted to divorce me.

“It was the worst day of my life. I was in shock, devastated and desperate.”

The couple were just 15 years old when they met at school in Les Ulis – the Paris suburb that has produced numerous Premier League stars – and Sandra describes the moment as “love at first sight”.

Sandra Evra decided to speak out after Mr Evra gave an interview in August 2020 in which he said that they only met for “family moments” and were no longer “under the same roof”.

Patrice Evra’s football career began in France after he came here from Senegal as a teenager.

He rose through the ranks and made a notable impression at AS Monaco before moving to Manchester United in 2006.

He played 379 games for Man Utd before moving to Juventus in 2014.

During his time at Old Trafford he won five Premier League titles, three League Cups and one Champions League title.

At international level, Evra played 81 international matches for France and took part in several World Cups and European Championships.