‘Behave like an animal … you’ll still be a hero’: Victim’s shock at David Goodwillie’s return to football

A YOUNG mum ruled to have been raped by footballer David Goodwillie is outraged at his return to football.

The former Scotland striker made his debut for League Two side Clyde yesterday, just weeks after vowing to quit football to clear his name.

But Goodwillie’s move has outraged Denise Clair, who won a six-figure compensation settlement after a civil case ruled she had been raped by Goodwillie and former St Johnstone midfielder David Robertson during a night out.

Denise is disgusted at the message his return sends out to young football fans.

“I’m appalled a club will allow a rapist and liar to represent them,” she said.

“What message will this send to impressionable young fans?

“They are saying you can behave like an animal and still be a sporting hero.”

Goodwillie, 28, and Robertson, 30, were both branded rapists by a judge following the civil hearing earlier this year.

Lord Armstrong ruled, on the balance of probabilities, that both men took advantage of Denise while she was too drunk to consent.

Both men are appealing the ruling.

Denise, 30, a former Scottish Prison Service careers adviser, has demanded the Scottish Football Association launch an investigation into whether Goodwillie’s signing has brought the game into disrepute.

In 2015, the English FA carried out a similar review into whether Ched Evans should be allowed to play football professionally after he was released from jail pending an appeal for his rape conviction.

Last year, the Welsh striker’s conviction was quashed and he now plays for Chesterfield in the fourth tier of English football.

And Denise is calling for the authorities north of the border to take firm action.

She said: “The SFA has a role to play in ensuring standards are upheld.

“I would like to see whether they believe Goodwillie is fit to be seen as a professional footballer with all the influence that has on the young people who watch the game?

“Isn’t it time they sent out a very clear message?”

Denise’s call for an investigation was backed by Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland.

She said: “Footballers are role models and this signing sends out completely the wrong message.

“Goodwillie has been found to be both a rapist and a liar by one Scotland’s most senior judges, and he should not be allowed on the professional playing field.

“Denise Clair has been extremely brave throughout this terrible ordeal, and has had to fight so hard to get justice.

“It’s a disgrace she is having to continue suffering further anguish brought about by this signing.”

Denise was driven to the brink of suicide as she struggled to cope when criminal prosecutors dropped their rape charge against Goodwillie in 2011.

Within hours of the decision, the player completed a £2.8m move to Blackburn Rovers.

Devastated Denise, who endured years of online abuse from football fans, was eventually forced to take civil action against the men. And, in a ruling which made Scottish legal history in January, Lord Armstrong awarded her £100,000 in damages.

Goodwillie subsequently announced he was leaving English club Plymouth Argyle by “mutual consent”.

He was booked on his first appearance for Clyde against Cowdenbeath yesterday.

His former Dundee United team-mate Robertson, 30, said he was “retiring” from the game soon after the ruling. He has since been working as a boiler salesman.

In January, The Sunday Post told how the men tried to buy Denise’s silence with three separate offers of money.

Because the Crown Office in Scotland refused to prosecute the pair, Denise sued them in the Court of Session, claiming that, on January 2, 2011, they took her to an empty house in West Lothian and raped her.

Despite repeated attempts, the SFA did not respond to requests for a comment last night.