Thomas Partey: The key questions about former Arsenal midfielder charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault | Football News

Sky Sports Look at the key questions surrounding the case of Thomas Partey, the former arsenal player who has been accused of several rape and sexual assault leaders.

What partial was Accused of?

Thomas Partey was charged on July 4 of five rape leaders and a chief of sexual assault, against three different women.

Two of these rape leaders are against a complainant, three other rape leaders are against a second complainant, and the accusation of sexual assault would have been committed against a third party.

All incidents would have taken place between 2021 and 2022. Party denied all the charges against him.

A statement by Partey lawyer said: “Thomas Parte denies all the charges held against him. He has fully cooperated with the police and the CPS throughout their three -year investigation. He now welcomes the opportunity to finally erase his name.”

Why did it take so long for the accusations to be worn?

Party was arrested for the first time suspected of rape three years ago in July 2022. Metropolitan police conducted a complete investigation since then.

Sky Sports News discovered that the first report on the case had been sent from police to the Crown accusation on December 27, 2024 to 18 months after the initial arrest of Partey.

Following additional surveys, a file updated on the case was filed with the CPS in April. Two months after that, Party was charged.

Rape cases are some of the most difficult criminal cases to continue, and the CPS will only charge someone if there is a “realistic possibility of conviction” when all the evidence is placed before a jury.

It was only once the CPS examined the evidence of the police against Party in April that they considered that this threshold had been reached, and there was enough information to take care of alleged crimes.

Two months ago, Rape Crisis published statistics that showed that there were 71,227 rape cases reported to the police in 2024. The charity estimates that many more attacks are not reported.

Conviction rates in England and Wales for Rape and Sexual Assault are among the lowest for any crime – only 2.7% of these 70,000 cases ended up a suspect charged by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Sexual crimes surveys can often be long and sensitive processes.

Was it a coincidence that party was charged only a few days after the expiration of his arsenal contract?

The time for accusations – less than a week after the expiration of his contract at Arsenal – was the subject of an intense discussion on social networks.

There has been no other comments from the Police MET or CPS, which is prohibited to make a declaration once a legal case is “active” – ​​and when it is likely to end up in a legal case.

But the CPS is, above all, independent of the police and makes its accusation decisions based solely on the basis of the evidence it sees. The CPS never changes its time scales to adapt to a defendant or to adapt to its employment priorities.

As soon as the CPS is satisfied, there is a “realistic perspective of condemnation”, it will lead to an accusation or a set of accusations. This is exactly what happened in the case of Party.

Police can accelerate their surveys for a number of reasons – one of which could potentially be because a suspect may intend to leave the country in the future, and it believes that it could be difficult to bring the individual back to the United Kingdom to meet future accusations.

But there is no suggestion that is the case with Party, even if the Ghana international is now free to join any other club in the world, following the expiration of his arsenal contract.

Why couldn’t he be named before Was he charged?

Under British law, the alleged victims of sexual crimes are entitled to anonymity for life under the law: they cannot be identified at any stage – even if the accused person is ultimately declared not guilty.

On the other hand, those arrested and accused of sexual crimes are not granted anonymity.

However, in February 2022, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom definitively decided that a person who is under a criminal investigation has a reasonable expectation of privacy before an accusation.

This led to a huge change in the way the media reported high -level people who were the subject of a police investigation, lest the newspaper or the diffuser will be prosecuted for violating this person’s privacy.

And so, while the accusations against Party were well known and were discussed openly on social networks, Sky Sports News – Like other broadcasters and established press organizations – could not do so.

This led to a bizarre situation where certain opposing fans could be heard in stadiums that narrated Party during the arsenal games with references to his police investigation, even if he could not be appointed to the media.

Once charged, the media were authorized to identify Partey at that time without risk of reprisals and to point out what it was accused.

Why didn’t Arsenal suspend Party?

This is a key question, and ultimately, it is a alone that Arsenal can answer. They haven’t done it yet.

As a Party employer, the club had a duty of diligence on him and the obligation to treat him fairly – everyone in this country is considered innocent unless they are proven guilty before a court.

But the club also had a duty of diligence on other employees, and sometimes in law – the rights of a party can conflict with the rights of another.

Sky Sports News It has been said that Arsenal followed the legal advice which had been given to them since the start of Party’s arrest – which included adequate safeguard procedures was in place to reassure the other members of Arsenal staff.

The legal and legal obligations of an employer with regard to allegations of sexual crimes against an employee is far from clear.

In the case of high -level people, a company (or a football club) will weigh a number of factors before deciding to suspend them.

One of the considerations is the reputation of the club. How harmful to it that a player continues to be found guilty of a sexual crime and that his club decided not to suspend them until he was legally forced to do so? How would such a decision be consulted by, for example, the female fans of this club?

The principle of law is that all those accused of a crime must be treated equally and fairly. Ask yourself this question: if an office employee is arrested for suspicion of rape, should he be treated differently to someone in the eyes of the public-like a pop star or a professional footballer?

The law says no – everyone should be treated in the same way. But for a football club, the decision to suspend a player or not is a much more complicated decision.

Manchester City decided to suspend Benjamin Mendy without salary when he was accused of multiple sexual assault leaders in August 2021.

Mendy was then acquitted of all these charges against him in July 2023, and then took City to a job court. Mendy finally won 11 million pounds sterling of club damages, to cover his lost salary during the two years when he was suspended.

If Arsenal had decided to suspend partial when he was arrested for the first time in 2022 – and if he continues to be found guilty without crime – the club in northern London could have faced a huge legal bill extending over tens of millions of pounds.

Why was Arsenal discussions on the renewal of open contracts with Party?

Sky Sports News reported in April that Arsenal had opened talks with Party on a new contract.

When asked if he wanted Party to stay ahead of the last Arsenal match of the season in May, Mikel Arteta said: “Yes … He’s a really important player for us.”

And early June,, When Arsenal announced its conservation list, the club confirmed that they were still in talks with Party for a possible new agreement.

There was no comments from Arsenal on the reasons why they negotiated with Party when he was still under a criminal investigation.

What did Arsenal said Since Party was charged?

Now that Party has been charged, there is very little that Arsenal can say publicly. An Arsenal spokesman said: “The player’s contract ended on June 30. Due to a legal proceedings in progress, the club is unable to comment on the case.”

The football association and the Premier League refused to comment.

Superintendent-detective Andy Furphy, who heads the investigation for the MET police, said: “Our priority remains supported by women who have come forward.

“We ask anyone who has been affected by this case or anyone with information to speak with our team. You can contact detectives on this survey by sending an email to cit@met.police.uk”

What happens next?

Party is expected to appear before the Westminster Court of First Instance on Tuesday August 5 to meet the six accusations against him. It will probably be 2026 before his case was heard during a full trial.

In the meantime, the 32 -year -old man is free to continue his player career, if he can find a new club who wants to sign him on a free transfer – but any future employer will also be accused of six rape and sexual assault counts.