
Sheffield United patron Charlie Webster announced her resignation live on air after the club allowed convicted rapist Ched Evans to return to train with the team following his release from prison.
Sheffield United say they have not yet made a decision about whether to re-sign Evans, who played for them before he was jailed for rape in April 2012.
Ms Webster, who revealed in an interview earlier this year that she was sexually assaulted as a teenager, had vowed to quit her role if the club re-signed Evans. Speaking to BBC Newsnight, she questioned why Sheffield United had allowed Evans to retrain with them, saying that it indicated they either wanted to "get him match fit, or to go and be sold in the January transfer window which is not a moral decision or a community decision."
"At no point have Sheffield United acknowledged the extremity of his crime”, she said. “They've not acknowledged the, I think it's over 155,000 people now, that have signed a petition against Ched Evans going back to the club. Nobody's making a decision and I suppose I need to make a decision as patron of Sheffield United.”
I don't believe a convicted rapist - as in Ched Evans - should go back to a club that I am patron of and should go back into the community to represent the community. He's not just going into a job, he's banded as a role model... He's influencing the next generation of young men who are currently still making their decisions on how to treat women and what sexual consent is.
- Charlie Webster