Ryan Giggs trial discharged after failing to reach verdict

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The jury in the Ryan Giggs trial has been discharged after they failed to reach a verdict. The Manchester Crown Court trial collapsed on Wednesday after the jury foreman said the seven women and four men were deadlocked, and that more time would not be useful in their deliberations.

The jury had been out considering their deliberations for 22 hours and 59 minutes before they were brought back into court at 3.04pm.

Prosecutors are now expected to confirm whether they will seek a re-trial. Mr Giggs stood trial accused of headbutting his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville and elbowing her sister Emma during an incident at his home in Worsley on November 1, 2020.

He was also accused of behaving in a controlling and coercive behaviour towards Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.

The former Wales international pleaded not guilty to all charges. Jurors were originally sent out at 3.43pm on Tuesday, August 23. A day of their deliberations was lost after one member of the jury fell ill and had to be discharged.

The seven women and four men of the jury continued their deliberations after the August bank holiday but were unable to reach a verdict. During the trial prosecutors alleged that Mr Giggs had subjected PR executive Ms Greville, 37, to a ‘litany of abuse, both physical and psychological’.

They claimed he headbutted Ms Greville at his home in Worsley in November 2020 after she’d confronted him over allegations he’d had ‘full on’ relationships with eight other women while they’d been together. Giggs denied this. He was also accused of assaulting her in hotel rooms in London and Dubai, which he denied.

He was also said to have monitored Greville online and bombarded her friends with messages when they broke up during their turbulent, on-off relationship. Greville claimed Giggs would ‘gaslight’ her when she accused him of seeing other women.

Giggs denied all wrongdoing. He admitted to being a ‘liar’ and a ‘cheat’ and being ‘far from perfect’ during their relationship, but denied ever assaulting Greville or being controlling or coercive. Bruising she’d suffered during an alleged assault in Dubai was from ‘rough sex’, he said. Sir Alex Ferguson gave evidence and said he’d never seen Giggs lose his temper during his time as United manager.

The couple first met in 2013 through Ms Greville’s work for the Manchester based PR company Tangerine, which was working with Giggs on the launch of Hotel Football, a hotel and restaurant near Old Trafford stadium.

The pair were both married when they began their affair. Greville said the relationship began well, and hundreds of affectionate messages and poems were read to the court. The pair exchanged more than 19,000 messages during their time together. In August 2017 Ms Greville said: “You make my heart flutter because you are a nutter.

“Every day you do me proud, not just because you are well endowed.” Giggs replied: “Darling Kate. Unequivocally our love was fate. I fell in love with you at first sight. I remember coz I was as high as a kite.

“Those beautiful eyes, made me shiver. I’m not gonna lie, I think of you, I dream of you. Can’t help thinking, pulling you was my greatest ever coo. That stomach, those abs, those pictures you sent. So I can keep tabs on you, makes me feel funny down there. Especially when you are there and you look up and stare.

“I’m beginning to think you are always right. That’s okay it will keep us tight.

“I’m gonna end by saying you are my love, my friend, my soul. And most of all you believe in me. Which makes me feel as hard as a totem pole.”

But as the relationship continued Ms Greville claimed Giggs subjected her to a ‘cycle’ of abuse. He would block her messages if she accused him of seeing other women, criticise her if she didn’t reply soon enough, bombard her friends with messages when they broke up and turn up unannounced at her home, work and gym, she claimed.

Ms Greville claimed she became a ‘slave to his every need’ and said she began to suffer panic attacks and went to see a therapist. She claimed the alleged abuse got worse during lockdown when she moved in with Giggs for the first time, describing it as ‘hell’. Ms Greville claimed Giggs criticised her loading of the dishwasher.

Giggs denied behaving in a controlling manner and said both would block each other at various points, and question one another if they didn’t reply to messages quickly enough. He said he messaged her friends after break-ups to ‘fight’ for their relationship, and that Ms Greville would be ‘happy’ that he’d done this after they’d reconciled.

His lawyer said Giggs did not interfere with her relationships with friends and family, actively encouraged her career and that she enjoyed many foreign holidays without him.

Giggs sent her an email titled ‘blackmail’ which she said she deleted after fearing it contained an intimate video they’d filmed. He denied it was a sex tape and was actually a ‘joke’ clip of Greville dancing which she was embarrassed by. In one message exchange Giggs called her an ‘evil horrible c***’. Giggs accepted his emotions ‘got away from him on a very small number of occasions’.

Ms Greville alleged Giggs was violent to her in hotel rooms in Dubai and London.

She claimed Giggs ‘dragged’ her naked out of a hotel room in Dubai in 2017 leaving her with bruising to her arm. Giggs said the bruising was as a result of ‘rough sex’.

She accused him of ‘kicking’ her out of bed and throwing a laptop bag at her in the Stafford Hotel in London in December 2019, after a Christmas party. The pair had accused each other of flirting with other people earlier that night. He denied any assault.

Ms Greville claimed she was left with bruising to her arm in February 2020 after Giggs had pulled her handbag hard so she fell to the floor. It followed an argument in which Giggs had said she was a ‘liability’ when drunk and had called her Stacey, his ex-wife’s name. Giggs maintained it was a ‘slip of the tongue’ but Greville said it was meant as an ‘insult’.

Police were called to Giggs’ home in Worsley in November 2020 after Ms Greville accused him of headbutting her following a ‘tug of war’ over her mobile phone. Giggs maintained they’d ‘clashed heads’ accidentally during a ‘tussle’.

He was also accused of elbowing Ms Greville’s sister Emma in the face, which he denied.

Earlier on November 1, 2020, the couple had met friends at the Stock Exchange hotel in Manchester, and Ms Greville had accused him of seeing eight different women during the course of their relationship. She said she’d taken screenshots of messages on his phone when he’d returned home drunk which confirmed this.

Ms Greville said she’d planned to leave Giggs while he was away as manager of Wales, but ‘blurted’ out her accusations that evening. She had previously penned a letter titled ‘The Final Goodbye’, in which she branded him a ‘compulsive liar’ and a ‘serial cheat’.

She wrote: “I know pretty much everything you have been doing with other women behind my back since the day I met you. My gut always told me you couldn’t be trusted and you were a compulsive liar and a serial cheat.”

Giving evidence, Giggs admitted he ‘can’t resist women’ and ‘has never been faithful’ in relationships. He admitted being a ‘liar’ and a ‘cheat’ but denied he’d ever assaulted his former partner. He broke down in tears after describing spending the night in a police cell as ‘the worst experience of my life’.

Source: Manchesterevening


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