Ryan Giggs said he was ‘disappointed’ to be dragged before the courts again
Former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs faces a second trial next summer in relation to allegations he assaulted and used coercive behavior against his ex-girlfriend, and revealed that he is “disappointed” by the development.
The ex-Wales manager is set to head to retrial on July 31 next year after jurors in the first trial failed to reach a verdict last week.
By the time the date at Manchester crown court comes round, 48-year-old Giggs will have been on bail for over two-and-a-half years.
On Wednesday, in the absence of Giggs, prosecutor Peter Wright QC confirmed at the court that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) sought a retrial 11 months from now while the case was considered at a “senior level.”
Wright said complainant Kate Greville, who is Giggs’s former partner, has also indicated a willingness to give evidence at a new trial, which as confirmed will start on July 31.
Originally arrested on November 1, 2020, Giggs will remain on bail and is said to be “well aware” of its conditions while not expected to attend a pre-trial hearing on July 3, 2023.
Giggs released a statement following the hearing and said he was “obviously disappointed” that a retrial had been ordered “after more than three weeks in court.”
“My not-guilty plea remains in relation to all charges. I am confident that justice will eventually be done and my name will be cleared of all the allegations,” Giggs added, while thanking his legal team, mother, children, current girlfriend Zara and closest friends “for their support throughout this period”.
“I understand the level of interest and the scrutiny around this case,” Giggs conceded, “but I would like to ask that my and my family’s privacy is respected in the weeks and months ahead.”
Giggs was charged with using coercive and controlling behavior against then girlfriend Kate Greville over a near-three-year period August 2017 and November 2020.
Furthermore, he has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm against 38-year-old Greville and is alleged to have headbutted her during an argument on November 1, 2020 at his home in Worsley near Manchester when he was apprehended.
Denying all charges, Giggs faces a third charge for allegedly assaulting Greville’s sister Emma, who claims that the ex-winger elbowed her in the face in the same argument where Kate Greville was allegedly headbutted.
At Gigg’s first trial, his barrister Chris Daw said that the accusations and charges leveled against his client were based on “distortion, exaggeration and lies” with Giggs having never used violence against women nor seeking to control Greville’s social life.
Giggs has described the night he was arrested as “the worst experience of my life,” and a jury made up of seven women and five men were told of how Giggs and Greville shared a “toxic” relationship which was ended on several occasions over a six-year period together.
At the second trial, Giggs is expected to protest his innocence with the help of Daw, who compared Giggs and Greville to “squabbling children, or teenagers at best.”
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