Denise Clair spoke last week about her ordeal (Andrew Cawley / DC Thomson)

THE young mother raped by footballers David Goodwillie and David Robertson hit out last night at internet trolls who called her a liar.

Denise Clair, 30, revealed she had been called appalling names and subjected to vile abuse because she sought justice against the pair.

Mother-of-one Denise bravely waived her anonymity and brought an unprecedented civil case against Goodwillie, 27, and Robertson, 30, after the Crown Office claimed there wasn’t enough evidence to put them on trial in the criminal courts.

The pair tried to buy her off with three separate offers of money – but she refused their cash and insisted on the case going to court.

And in a judgment at the Court of Session which made headlines around the world, Lord Armstrong ruled that the footballers raped her on January 2, 2011, at a flat they borrowed from a friend.

Denise, speaking exclusively to The Sunday Post, said: “The threats and abuse I have had to put up with are absolutely appalling.

“I truly believed someone was coming to rape and kill me.

“I was called the most terrible things – a witch, a gold-digger, a would-be WAG who got what she deserved.

“It was gut-churning. I was nobody’s WAG. I was a rape victim.

“It’s a terrible reflection on some people, their lack of education and compassion.

“These faceless keyboard monsters want to blame the victim, not the perpetrator.

“But they’ve been proved wrong and I’ve been proved right.

“This is a step forward struck for every woman who has been attacked or abused by a man in a position of power or celebrity.

“I’m not the first woman to have been taken advantage of by football stars – and I don’t suppose I’ll be the last either.

“But, sadly, there are some very ignorant people who follow football that believe their heroes can do no wrong and their victims should be condemned.

“You only have to look at the hatred directed at me to realise it. Sometimes, it felt as if I was being swamped.”

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Goodwillie and Robertson announced separately last week that they were quitting football in the wake of Lord Armstrong’s damning court judgment.

Plymouth Argyle said Goodwillie had chosen to “retire” at the age of 27 – and Cowdenbeath said Robertson had quit by “mutual consent”.

But well-placed football sources are adamant the players were effectively fired – and given little choice about whether to stay or not.

Denise told The Sunday Post: “It feels like some sort of justice is finally getting done.

“The idea of football crowds chanting their names given what they did to me was just awful to think about.

“It’s nothing to do with revenge, it’s about a bit of natural justice.

“It’s not the punishment they deserve of course – they should be in jail.

“But, no matter what, Goodwillie and Robertson are finished as players – and they can’t be managers either.

“Coaches need respect from the young. They have shut the door on that and they only have themselves to blame.

“Sometimes football can be very slow to deal with abusers – but at least in this case these two are out on their ear. It sends out the right message at last.”

David Goodwillie (left) and David Robertson (SNS Group)

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Post last weekend in the wake of the Law Lord’s judgment, Denise revealed that the players tried to buy her silence with offers of up to £115,000.

Then, when she refused, their lawyers tried to stop her getting legal aid – a move which would have derailed her case.

Goodwillie and Robertson have always protested their innocence and claimed before Lord Armstrong that Denise, a former Scottish Prison Service careers adviser, had been a willing sexual partner.

But in a landmark judgment, he condemned the pair as liars and rapists and awarded Denise £100,000 in damages.

And the court heard the pair told a nightclub bouncer who was worried about Denise’s welfare that they were taking her home to her mother – when in fact they had lined up a borrowed flat to take advantage of her in.

Revealed: Rapist former footballer David Robertson now working as travelling boiler salesman – click here to read more

Denise said last night: “It was never about money for me – it was about justice.

“They said they were innocent, they still say they were innocent but the whole world now knows the truth.

“If they were really innocent why did they want to pay so much money to keep me quiet?

“I would never have accepted anything out of court from them – because that was their way of getting me to stay silent.

“I was never for sale – and I never deserved to be called all those names online.”

Hateful trolls threatened Denise

THE language was vile and threatening – internet hate messages which no-one, least of all a rape victim, should be subjected to.

One read: “She lives oot my way. I’m gonna violently rape her… get in!”

Another troll replied: “Great shout. Gang rape…”

The original troll, who would be revealed to be Mark Gosden, a father-of-two and £45,000-a-year IT consultant, then replied: “Can’t argue with that.”

For a year, Denise lived with this sort of online hate on an almost daily basis.

With police apparently unwilling to take action, award-winning journalist Marion Scott unmasked Gosden and handed the evidence to the authorities.

He was convicted at Livingston Sheriff Court in 2014 and fined £1500 after admitting posting comments of a sexual, threatening and abusive nature and placing Denise in a state of fear and alarm.

Denise said last night: “I hope he and all the others who said such disgusting things are taking a long, hard look at themselves.”

Goodwillie admits driving home drunk after rape

SHAMED David Goodwillie has admitted driving home drunk after he raped Denise Clair.

The fallen football idol confessed he travelled 25 miles from Bathgate to Stirling after downing more than a dozen drinks, including doubles.

CCTV picked him up around 4am on January 2, 2011, walking from the flat at Greig Crescent, in Armadale, where the rape happened, to the centre of Bathgate, where he had left his Peugeot 207.

He was then spotted by CCTV, driving to his home in Stirling.

By his own admission in court papers seen by The Sunday Post, he had consumed beer, Red Bull and vodka, and shots of spirits.

Goodwillie and a relative had arrived at the Glenmavis tavern at 10pm on January 1. The documents say that within two hours he had “six drinks”, including singles and doubles. It was there he encountered David Robertson chatting to Denise.

Goodwillie and the relative left the pub at about midnight and went to Chalmers night club nearby where he once again saw Denise and continued drinking.

In the following hours, he admitted having “five or six drinks” and “possibly some shots”.

He left Chalmers at around 2am, describing himself as “probably really drunk”, in the company of Denise and David Robertson.

By then, the footballers had acquired the keys to the flat in Armadale, where they took Denise and raped her.

But despite his admission, he will not face prosecution for drink- driving – because of Scottish legal rules which stipulate that every crime must be corroborated with more evidence than just one person’s testimony.