In a significant new development, a footballer who made 13 combined Championship games for Wolves and Nottingham Forest has been sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.

While ex-Wolves manager Vitor Pereira led Forest to a UEFA Europa League semi-final last season after being fired at Molineux, the Old Gold’s eight-year Premier League reign came to an end with a whimper as Rob Edwards’ side was relegated.

Indeed, in a shocking reversal, controversial owners Fosun have fired Edwards from the Black Country outfit and are set to install Cesar Peixoto as they plan an immediate return to the top flight.

Away from the pitch, however, an individual who played for Wolves during the club’s most recent Championship campaign – in which they won the league title under Nuno Espirito Santo in 2017/18 – has just received a lengthy jail sentence after being brought to justice for a shocking incident that occurred three years after his departure from the West Midlands.

Rafa Mir, a former Wolves and Nottingham Forest striker, has received an eight-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Rafa Mir, who joined Wolves from Valencia in 2018, played little in the second half of the club’s title-winning season before returning to the Championship for a brief and goalless spell with Nottingham Forest in 2019/20.

Mir departed Wolves permanently to join Sevilla in the summer of 2021, after a successful loan spell with SD Huesca.

The Spanish striker is now preparing for more than eight years in prison after being convicted of a serious sexual assault while on loan at Valencia in 2024.

Court processes have been ongoing for some time, and in March, it was announced that Mir might face up to ten years in prison.

Last month, the 28-year-old, who spent the entire previous season on loan with Elche and continued to play despite the gravity of the situation, is alleged to have pled innocent.

Mir was eventually found guilty, and according to sources, the forward received a seven-year term for severe attack on a woman he met at a nightclub, as well as an additional 18 months in jail for assault.

Mir was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison by three judges. He was also given a 13-year restraining order that prohibits him from coming within 500 metres of his victim and had to pay more than £55,000 in damages.

Meanwhile, footballer Pablo Jara has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexual assault and issued a five-year restraining order.

What has been said about Rafa Mir’s case after he received his prison sentence?

Mir’s victim spoke in court last month about the horrible incident. The woman described meeting Mir and Jara in the VIP area of Valencia’s Mya nightclub before visiting the former Wolves striker’s home with a friend.

Mir then admitted to assaulting the girl in his swimming pool before taking her into the bathroom and closing the door when she attempted to flee.

The victim stated, “He took me into the bathroom and locked the door.”He began doing the same thing to me that he had done at the swimming pool. I started crying and telling him to stop because I wanted to leave. “He did not stop.”