(CNN) -- Should a convicted rapist, who has served their time in prison, be allowed to resume their old job? What if that job was as a high-profile football player? In the early hours of Friday, Ched Evans was released from a British prison -- a Category C facility for sex offenders -- after serving half of a five-year sentence for raping a 19-year-old girl in a hotel room. A blacked-out silver Mercedes 4x4 apparently whisked him out of sight of the waiting photographers before dawn had even broken. In another life, photographers had trained their lenses on the 25-year-old Evans for very different reasons -- he was the prized player of third-flight English league club Sheffield United, signed for Â£3 million ($4.8 million) in 2009.
@highlight
Footballer Ched Evans released after serving sentence for rape
@highlight
Convicted of raping 19-year-old girl in hotel room in 2012
@highlight
Almost 150,000 sign petition against his return to Sheffield United
@highlight
NEW: Sheffield Utd denies reports it has offered a contract to Evans
That's something @placeholder is going to have to look into."