Ryan Giggs trial: Ex-footballer ‘had affairs with eight women while he was with Kate Greville’ 

Ryan Giggs had ‘full-on relationships’ with eight women during his time together with ex-girlfriend Kate Greville who discovered he had texted a friend to brag: ‘Just need the bars to open so I can pull some cl**ge’ , his coercion and assault trial heard today.

Ms Greville, 36, told police in a video shown to the jury at Minshull Street Court that she made the discovery about his cheating while looking at his iPad shortly before she decided to leave him.

While scrolling through Giggs’ Apple tablet, she also said she saw messages to his friends calling her a ‘slag’ and ‘silly cow’. Jurors also heard Ms Greville claimed that Mr Giggs had said in a message: ‘Just need the bars to open so I can pull some cl**ge’.

She was interviewed by detectives weeks after she claimed Giggs, 48, headbutted her at his mansion Greater Manchester. Giggs constantly denied he was cheating on her, she said, but she ‘needed to know the truth’ as she checked on his device.

She said: ‘The reality of what I had found on that iPad was way worse than I could imagine. Eight women he was having affairs with while he was with me. Full-on relationships.’

Ms Greville then said she decided to leave him while he was away managing Wales – and would move into a new flat.

She said: ‘It was all there in black and white. I knew if I even brought it up he would deny it. I knew he was going away to manage Wales, about four weeks after I found out, so I just put a plan in place to leave.

‘I sorted out a new flat, I wrote him a letter which I never got the chance to send. I knew if I confronted him about anything, it would just kick off. I just made a plan to leave, and I kept it in for three weeks, which sent me under. I just needed to take a bit of control.’

But despite her claims she was seeing eight other women, Ms Greville told the court in evidence from behind a screen that Ryan Giggs would regularly accuse her of cheating and of ‘being with other men’. 

Giggs, who was sat yards away in the dock, even sent her a message saying: ‘Are you going to be a good girl?’ She told the jury: ‘If I didn’t do what he said, or wasn’t a good girl as he liked to call it… and didn’t give him hassle as he called it, then he would get angry and not be very nice to me.’

This morning the court was shown her interview with police in 2020 where she had broken down as she described how Ryan Giggs twice ‘dragged’ her out of a hotel room and dumped her in the corridor naked in rows over him texting and flirting with women – including one occasion where he allegedly kicked her in the back and threw a laptop at her head.

The former Manchester United star, 48, is in on trial accused of controlling and coercive behaviour against his ex-girlfriend between August 2017 and November 2020. He is also charged with assaulting Ms Greville and her sister Emma. He denies all charges. 

Today the court was played Ms Greville’s 105 minute interview with detectives in November 2020 after he allegedly headbutted her at his £1.7million. 

She described how they started having an affair having bonded over their unhappy marriages. They were ‘soul mates’ and ‘best friends’ when they first got together, she claimed, but the three-year relationship would later become ‘toxic’ and ‘coercive’. 

The ‘cycle of abuse’ included an email he sent to her titled ‘blackmail’ with a video ‘we had done’ and a threat to share it, she claimed, adding: ‘He’d say: ‘I’m going to send these messages to people if you don’t reply’.’

Ms Greville also said: ‘He wouldn’t leave me alone, there was never a time when he didn’t want to have sex’.

On Day 2 of evidence at Ryan Giggs’ trial, the court heard evidence from his former lover Kate Greville, who said:

• It was ‘almost like was he was two people’ during their relationship. She told police that she thought he was ‘a best friend, a soul mate’ who saved her from her marriage. Their affair began after her mother asked her to get a shirt signed;
• But the PR woman who met him through work said she saw early ‘red flags’, including harassing her via text if she failed to reply with ten minutes. She claimed he also became angry if she asked if he was seeing other women;
• In her police interview in 2020 she has told how the former football star ‘dragged’ her to the floor naked  in Abu Dhabi after she accused him of texting another woman. ‘He grabbed me by my wrist, so hard, literally dragged me to the lounge and dragged me of the floor. He threw all of my stuff, all of my make-up in the corridor and shut the door and wouldn’t let me in’;
• She also claimed that there was a similar incident in London when she was also thrown out of a hotel room naked when she accused him of flirting. She said Giggs ‘kicked me in the back so hard that I flew off the bed and landed on the floor. He got my bag with my laptop and threw it at my head’.
• Ms Greville also said Giggs had walked out on her in a Dubai restaurant after she told him to come off his phone. The next day she said she received an email from an anonymous man who sent her a naked picture of Mr Giggs he had found on his wife’s mobile;
• On one occasion she was messaged by another woman saying she was in a relationship with Giggs, she told police;
• Ms Greville said he ‘always wanted sex’ and would bombard her with lewd messages. She said: ‘If I didn’t reply to him, I’d get a lot of abusive messages. He sent me an email once with blackmail [in the subject] and it was a video of what we’d done. He’d say: ‘I’m going to send these messages to people if you don’t reply’.’

Former Manchester United Player Welsh coach Ryan Giggs and then girlfriend Kate Greville pictured together in Italy in 2018

Pictured left: Ex-Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs arriving in court today where he is accused of attacking his ex-girlfriend Emma Greville (pictured right) and her sister

Kate Greville describes having ‘massive issues’ with Stacey Giggs after her affair with her husband – and claims the footballer used to call her by his ex-wife’s name in an ‘ultimate insult’

Stacey Giggs in Marbella with her boyfriend Max George 

Kate Greville said there were ‘massive issues’ with Giggs’ ex-wife, Stacey.

She said: ‘She hated me. I didn’t meet the kids until a year after I moved back to Manchester and he kept the kids separate. It didn’t feel right the reasons why he didn’t introduce me.

‘Things didn’t add up. He would go out a lot and drink and I wouldn’t hear from him. If I was out with my friends and didn’t reply in 10 minutes I would get ‘Thumbs up’ or ‘Rude’ or he would block me. He said ‘You’re different when you’re drunk’ and ‘You’re obviously going to be with another guy tonight’. Eventually I didn’t go on nights out.

‘I asked him when he wanted to start a family and he said ‘I don’t want kids, I never said that’. That’s the reason I came back to Manchester.

‘I came back to work for him, he set it up and said why don’t you work for me and Gary.

‘It was like he was painting me out to Stacey I was a bad person and she showed the kids and they hated me. It was horrendous. She would say I never want you anywhere near my kids.’

This afternoon, giving evidence from behind a screen, Ms Greville  said Giggs told her she was ‘just like my ex-wife’ and called her by his ex-wife’s name, Stacey.

‘It was like his ultimate insult,’ she told the court.

Ms Greville said Giggs would claim his ex-wife made his life ‘hell’ and had a problem with alcohol, and claimed she was similar.

Kate Greville told the court that in 2019 she discovered Giggs was in a relationship with his current girlfriend Zara Charles – and blocked him on social media.

After Giggs sent Ms Greville messages demanding she unblock him, she said she was ‘scared’ after he ‘threatened’ to post messages about her to a work WhatsApp group.

‘He could have sent anything,’ she told the court.

‘He wasn’t very rational.’

She said she was concerned Giggs could post ‘something of a really private nature, of a personal nature… to embarrass and humilate me’.

Ms Greville said she feared Giggs would ‘try and ruin her career’.

She said Giggs threatened to ask a work WhatsApp group if she was dating a man called Rob.

Ms Greville said she felt ‘mortified’.  

This morning alleged that in a London hotel room Giggs once ‘kicked me in the back so hard that I flew off the bed and landed on the floor’. She then claims he ‘dragged’ her while naked into the suite area of the room.

‘He got my bag with my laptop and threw it at my head’, she told detectives, alleging that Giggs then locked her out of the hotel room naked, before letting her back in about 10 minutes later before having sex. 

Ms Greville told police it happened when she accused Giggs of flirting with other women in her presence. She said: ‘I don’t know whether he did it to make me jealous. He would completely ignore me and he would speak to everybody else. He would also flirt with my friends’.

She claimed he told her that he would ask whether it ‘bothered’ her when she flirted with them. Later she challenged him and claimed that Giggs told her it was ‘over’ and that she should apologise.

‘I ended up saying sorry because he made me feel that bad,’ she said.

After challenging him about the alleged back throwing, she claimed Giggs replied: ‘He was like ‘yeah, because you accused me of flirting’.

‘He didn’t say you deserve it, but you made me do it. And then I felt like it was my fault’.

Recalling a row when they were staying in an Abu Dhabi hotel, she said: ‘I asked him ‘are you messaging a girl?’ She said Giggs threw her out the room while she was naked and said: ‘He flipped, went right up to my face and said ‘how f***ing dare you, it’s my daughter. We’re done, we’re over’.’

‘He grabbed me by my wrist, so hard, literally dragged me to the lounge and dragged me off the floor. He threw all of my stuff, all of my make-up in the corridor and shut the door and wouldn’t let me in’, she said. 

The police interview began with Ms Greville describing how she had met Giggs in 2013 when she was working for a PR firm, in which Giggs was one of their clients.

They had an affair while she was married and Giggs was still wed to wife Stacey. Their relationship began after her mother asked her to get a shirt signed, she said.

Ms Greville told police she left her husband after falling in love with her ‘soulmate’ and ‘best friend’ Giggs before ‘red flags’ emerged and he began calling her a ‘whore’ and accused her of ‘f***ing someone else’ if she didn’t see him. 

She said Giggs made her feel ‘paranoid’ and ‘like a psycho’ when she confronted him over repeated affairs, claiming at one point he had two other girlfriends he was seeing behind her back. 

On one occasion she confronted him and he called her ‘weak’ for believing it. And as the relationship went on she alleged he bombarded her with sexual messages and photos and then threatened to publicly share explicit videos of them together.

She said: ‘He’d come to my house in the morning, we’d have sex, it felt like he was just using me for sex. He wouldn’t leave me alone, there was never a time when he didn’t want to have sex. He’d come round to mine to have sex, then flew to Barcelona with a different girl.

‘One minute he would be like, ‘you’re abusive, this is never going to work’, and then he’d be sending me naughty pictures.

‘If I didn’t reply to him, I’d get a lot of abusive messages. He sent me an email once with blackmail [as the subject line] and it was a video of what we’d done. He’d say: ‘I’m going to send these messages to people if you don’t reply’.’

Giggs also ‘did this gaslighting thing’ that was ‘very subtle’ and ‘constantly criticised’ her, including how she loaded the dishwasher and how she made the bed, she told police, adding: ‘It was like I was a housemaid, I was his staff member’.

Ryan Giggs at Manchester Crown Court today watching ex-girlfriend Kate Greville giving evidence on police video played to the jury after he is alleged to have headbutted her

Former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs, 48, is pictured arriving at Manchester Minshull Street Court on Tuesday after a court heard on Monday how he harboured a ‘sinister and ugly side’

Mr Giggs, pictured today, is accused of controlling and coercive behaviour against his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020. He is also charged with assaulting Ms Greville and her sister Emma. He denies all charges

Giggs (left), 48, is accused of using controlling and coercive behaviour against Kate Greville (right), 36, between August 2017 and November 2020. The pair are pictured here on holiday in 2018

Ryan and Stacey Giggs  (pictured in 2010) were married for 10 years before they divorced

The court heard how the ex-Wales winger said in the messages, sent to ex-girlfriend Emma Greville: ‘I am am so f****** mad right now I’m scaring myself because I could do anything,’ before adding: ‘I actually hate you for what you’ve done to me. Hate you. HATE HATE HATE…’. Pictured: A mock-up version of the messages read out in court yesterday

On another occasion she said Giggs had walked out on her in a Dubai restaurant after she told him to come off his phone. She said: ‘I was really upset, I don’t understand what’s happened. I went to my friend’s house crying my eyes out, I didn’t want to go back to the hotel room.’

The next day she said she received an email from an anonymous man who sent her a naked picture of Mr Giggs he had found on his wife’s phone.

Ms Greville said: ‘He said ‘Is it him’. I knew it was him, I said yes who is it but he didn’t tell me. He said he had kids and didn’t want it to blow up.

‘It’s not nice when you see that and your whole body goes into shock. That was the first time I realised maybe he’s not what I think he is. I confronted him and he tried to make up some story, he eventually told me who it was and she is married and said it was from ages ago and must have found it on her phone.

‘It was the start of a pattern, he would do something bad and I’d accuse him he would get really aggressive and nasty with me. He then started to be really nice with me again and the nice Ryan I had before would come back. It created this push pull, he would do something bad but he would be really nice to me but it wouldn’t last long and he would go back to himself when that little bit of guilt went away.’

Ms Greville said she was also messaged by another woman saying she was in a relationship with Giggs.

She said: ‘At the time I had been naive… I still felt he was my world and we had a future and wanted to have a family… When I realised that it was like a rug had been pulled underneath my feet and I didn’t want to carry on anymore.

‘I never thought he would because of what I had gone through. I was just naive and gullible I guess….. I got the email and remember thinking he was my best friend and soulmate and the realisation he wasn’t, I really struggled, it was really hard.

‘But he wouldn’t leave me alone and I worked for him. I would give him some s*** on messaging. It was me getting things off my chance. He would say ‘I’m your boss, you can’t talk to me like this’ and said I was abusive. And then he would be sending me naughty pictures because I said ‘That’s it, I don’t want anymore to do with you’.’

The alleged victim said this went on for four months but they would still go for dinner and would have sex. 

She said Mr Giggs would threaten her with her job and sent her an email headlined ‘Blackmail’ with a video ‘we had done’.

She said: ‘(Giggs) said ‘I’m going to send these messages and people will know what you’ve been doing.’

When asked if she knew what the video was of, Ms Greville said: ‘I deleted it straight away, it could have been anything but it could have been a sexual video.

‘It made me unblock him because I was scared. He would message my friends, he wanted to have sex all the time. He wouldn’t pressurise me, no he would pressurise me for sex but he didn’t force himself on me, he was using sex to get to me.

‘He thought I was seeing some guy and he bombarded me. He said ‘That’s it, you’re ruined, you’re finished’…… It was a cycle of abuse and silence or sexual images over these four months. He would make me feel he was threatening my job which was so important and I was worried he would ruin my career.’

Kate said she had worked for a PR firm used by one of Giggs’ business and they first met in 2013, and said: ‘Over a course of a year, two years, I started to notice he had a definite interest in me’. In 2016 they had an affair and she left her husband after two months, claiming the ex-footballer ‘saved her’ and their relationship was ‘more than a sexual thing’.

‘He would say I was his soulmate. We would talk for hours. He helped me get out of that situation’, she said, but then said ‘red flags’ emerged when she failed to respond to messages or didn’t see him, and told a police officer that he would claim she was ‘f****** someone else’ and call her a ‘whore’.

They then split up when the affair emerged in the media in May 2016 and Giggs hadn’t left his wife Stacey. She then moved to Abu Dhabi but Giggs ‘kept pursuing and messaging me’, she said, claiming that her lover’s wife and daughter sent her ‘nasty messages’.

She tells the officer she then discovered Giggs had not left his family home so she decided she was ‘done’ and blocked Giggs ‘on everything’. But after he messaged her up to 30 times a day she claimed that he told her she was ‘the love my life’ only to discover he was seeing another woman. ‘I was absolutely devastated’, Ms Greville said.

She told police that in 2017 they met at a hotel but Giggs ‘flipped’ when she said he was a cheat. Giggs allegedly told her: ‘You made me do this… I don’t want to be with you anymore’ – and dumped her naked in the corridor with her belongings. She was ‘dragged’ there by the wrist, she told detectives. 

Ryan Giggs arrives at Manchester Crown Court with his legal team

Giggs stood down in June as manager of the Wales national team following his arrest. During their three-year relationship he is alleged to have subjected Ms Greville to a campaign of ‘control and coercion’ which created a ‘cycle of abuse’. 

He allegedly subjected his ex-girlfriend to a ‘litany’ of physical and psychological abuse before headbutting her in the face when she tried to leave him. 

In her police interview played to the jury today, Kate Greville said she had worked for Mr Giggs as a PR advisor to one of his companies. She said that she became aware he was attracted to her in a meeting where he allegedly ‘kept staring at me’. She said it was both unnerving and ‘flattering’.

Ms Greville then claimed that he pursued her – and she told him her mother wanted him to sign a football shirt, knowing it would lead somewhere.

She said: ‘I went to meet him at the hotel, got the shirt signed and he asked me to stay for a drink

‘He would tell me about his marriage and how he wasn’t happy, I would talk about mine and things developed from there and we began an affair. I left my marriage two months before anything happened… it was like I had met my best friend and my saviour, he was the one to save me from that marriage and get me out of that situation

‘He was said I was his best mate and soul mate, it was more than a sexual thing… he was like you’re the love of my life’.

After nine months the affair ended because he hadn’t left his wife. She tyold police that she then decided to move abroad.   

She told police: ‘This went on for nine months, I thought he’ll never split up with Stacey so I made the decision to move to Abu Dhabi, it wasn’t good for me mentally and people started to find out things at work.

‘I went to Abu Dhabi and I thought in my head he won’t keep chasing after me but he did. I told him he needed to leave because he was still with Stacey. My values, it didn’t sit well. It wasn’t exciting to me he was with somebody else.

‘He messaged me and told him he had moved out in October and they had split up and then I found they weren’t. It was complete mind games.

‘Then the media got hold of the fact we were together or something had gone on and it all came out in May 2016. It was horrendous, I got hounded by the paps, emails off media saying my life was ruined unless I sold my story. His wife and daughters were sending me nasty messages, understandably.

‘He massively supported me but I found out he hadn’t actually been split up for the whole time. Five months I thought they weren’t together and for four they were.

‘I said this is it I’m done, I blocked him on emails and off my phone. It was like I was addicted to him, it was like I couldn’t get him out of my head.’

She said the relationship left her with ‘horrendous anxiety’ but she said Giggs was good at convincing her that ‘everything was fine’.

Jurors heard how Giggs (pictured above in a court sketch yesterday) ‘lost control’ and allegedly headbutted his girlfriend at his £1.7m home before going on to assault her sister, Emma Greville

Greville said she later got back into the room and asked Giggs ‘what’s just happened?’ but said she apologised to him. She said it was the ‘first incident’ of him being aggressive to her.

In the police interview, which was conducted in November 2020 after she accused Giggs of assaulting her during an argument at his home in Worsley, Manchester, she said she returned to the UK and continued with their relationship. But she said Giggs became too controlling and started dating other women.

Yesterday on the first day of his trial, the court heard how the former Manchester United star, 48, sent swear-word filled messages to his ex-girlfriend, asked her to unblock him on the promise he would stop sending nude ‘piccies’ and threw her out of a five-star hotel naked after she accused him of flirting with other women.

Jury members were told how the ex-Wales winger penned one message titled ‘Lies, Lies Lies’ – and another entitled ‘Blackmail’ – to former girlfriend Emma Greville after she blocked him from sending texts.

The court heard how Giggs said in the messages: ‘I am am so f****** mad right now, I’m scaring myself because I could do anything,’ before adding: ‘I actually hate you for what you’ve done to me. Hate you. HATE HATE HATE…’

In another message, sent after he was blocked by Miss Greville, he said: ‘Please unblock me. All this blocking malarkey is poo. Promise, no more naked piccies.’ 

A third message featured the header ‘blackmail’, the court heard. But jurors were only told that it contained the word ‘please’ as well as an unspecified attachment.

It comes as barristers representing Giggs yesterday told a court that that he and Ms Greville behaved like ‘squabbling teenagers’ during their relationship.

But they insisted that there were ‘lines he would never cross’, Chris Daw QC added, saying that Giggs ‘never once used unlawful violence’ against her during their relationship, ‘no matter how bad things got’.

The retired footballer is accused of using controlling and coercive behaviour against Miss Greville, 36, between August 2017 and November 2020.

He is also charged with assaulting and causing her actual bodily harm in relation to an alleged headbut during an incident at his £1.7m mansion during a row over his alleged infidelity,

Giggs also faces an allegation of common assault of her sister, Emma Greville, at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester. Giggs has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

Delivering an opening statement to the jury, Mr Daw said Giggs fully accepts that his behaviour – on a moral level – at times during their time together was ‘far from perfect’.

The defendant also acknowledges that he did not always handle their arguments ‘in the best possible way’ and the jury may think the couple behaved like ‘squabbling teenagers’ in their numerous message exchanges, Mr Daw said.

However much of the evidence jurors would hear amounted to ‘exactly the sort of thing that goes on between arguing couples day in, day out’, he told them.

Addressing the night of the alleged assault, Mr Daw said the accusations were ‘based on distortion, exaggerations and lies’. ‘He assaulted no-one,’ he added.

Mr Daw said that in the weeks before the incident, Miss Greville had ‘said to her friends that she was determined not to walk away from the relationship with nothing’.

Speaking about the alleged headbut, he said that while the pair were ‘tussling’ over her phone, both tripped and fell to the floor, and Miss Greville kicked him in the face as he tried to disentangle himself.

Mr Daw said Giggs was not even aware that her sister was in the house at the time and certainly did not elbow her, as alleged.

The alleged headbutt was ‘not only a nasty lie but a ridiculous one’, he said, as the evidence will show there was mere ‘minor and accidental contact’ between their faces.

Denying the prosecution claim that Giggs subjected Miss Greville to controlling and coercive behaviour, Mr Daw pointed out that she had been earning a six-figure salary during the relationship – assisted by his introducing ‘most of her clients’ to her.

She kept her own apartment and was free to travel and see friends, he added, saying that in ‘stark contrast to the picture painted by Miss Greville, Mr Giggs did not control or coerce at all’.

Telling jurors they were not there to judge Giggs on ‘the morals of infidelity’, he urged them: ‘Keep your eye on the ball.’

It comes after the court heard how Giggs subjected his girlfriend to a ‘litany of physical and psychological abuse’ and headbutted her at his £1.7m mansion during a row over his alleged infidelity.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC told Manchester’s Minshull Street Court that Giggs’s private life ‘involved a litany of abuse of a woman he professed to love’. 

Giggs would email Ms Greville when she blocked him on social media and threaten to send images ‘of a personal nature’, to her friends unless she did what he said, the court heard.

He allegedly harassed Ms Greville and turned up ‘unwanted’ at her house or gym.

Mr Wright added: ‘This was not an expression of love, this is obsessive behaviour by him.’

Mr Wright cited one message from Giggs, which stated: ‘Please unblock me. All this blocking malarkey is poo. Promise, no more naked piccies.’

Minutes later Giggs sent an email with an attachment, with the subject header, ‘Blackmail.’

Jurors were also asked if they had any personal connection to Sir Alex Ferguson, former defender Gary Neville or executive David Gill – sparking speculation the trio could play a role during the trial.

Opening the case, prosecutor Peter Wright QC said of the defendant: ‘He was idolised by his adoring fans and supporters. On the pitch his skills were abundant and a thing of beauty.

‘Off the pitch, in the privacy of his own personal life at home or behind closed doors, there was, we say the facts reveal, a much uglier and more sinister side to his character.

‘This was a private life that involved a litany of abuse, both physical and psychological, of a woman he professed to love.

‘A woman who, in reality, was, if the evidence is to be believed, treated in a way that cannot be excused or overlooked, by either an adoring public, or the law.

‘This is a story of control and coercion of a woman who thought she was loved and respected; sadly the reality was very different.’

The barrister continued: ‘Eventually, after years of turbulence, when the scales fell from her eyes, she realised she needed to remove herself from his sphere of influence.’

Mr Wright said the result of this decision to break away was the incident on November 1 2020, when Giggs is said to have ‘lost control’ and headbutted Ms Greville.

While out together with friends at Manchester’s Stock Exchange Hotel that evening Ms Greville decided to terminate their relationship, said Mr Wright.

He said: ‘She knew that the defendant had once again been cheating on her.

‘During the evening the defendant’s behaviour towards her led to her making that decision and make an early departure. In advance of her return home she informed her sister by text message of her plan.

‘She intended to make her departure before he got back from the hotel. The plan did not work.

‘As she was vacating the defendant’s home address, he came back and began arguing with her and trying to stop her leaving.’

The prosecutor said she took his phone as a ‘bargaining chip’ to try to persuade him not to prevent her from going.

A heated argument followed and Giggs then attempted to grab her phone, which was later found on a fence post in the garden of the property, said Mr Wright.

In the altercation that followed they grappled together on the floor before Ms Greville’s sister stepped in, the court heard.

Pictured: An artist’s impression of ex-footballer Ryan Giggs appearing at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court. Mr Giggs denies a charge of coercive behaviour and assaulting his ex-girlfriend and her sister

Mr Wright said: ‘She (Emma Greville) tried to pull the defendant off her sister. For her pains the defendant, we say, deliberately elbowed her in the jaw causing her discomfort and shock that he would turn violence on to her as well her sister.

‘The argument between the defendant and Kate Greville moved to the kitchen. The couple continued to argue about her mobile phone.

‘At that stage, we say, the defendant entirely lost self-control and he deliberately headbutted Kate, thereby causing swelling to her lips and bruising. Emma then called the police, who attended the premises.’

Mr Wright told the jury he would give a ‘snapshot’ of the nature of the relationship between the defendant and Ms Greville, a woman more than 10 years younger than him.

He physically threw her, and her belongings, out of an address they were staying at, after Ms Greville challenged him about another woman and threw an item at her in a bust-up in a hotel room in London, the jury heard.

Giggs’ barrister, Chris Daw QC, said the ex-footballer fully accepts that his behaviour – on a moral level – at times during their time together was ‘far from perfect’.

Mr Daw said: ‘He never once used unlawful violence against Ms Greville during the course of their relationship, no matter how bad things got.

‘His defence to the assaults is simple. Those accusations are based on distortion, exaggerations and lies. He assaulted no-one.

‘In the weeks before, Kate Greville said to her friends that she was determined not to walk away from the relationship with nothing.’

He said Giggs and Ms Greville both tripped and fell to the floor in the kitchen at his home and she kicked him in the face as he tried to disentangle himself, and was not even aware that the complainant’s sister was in the house at the time and certainly did not elbow her.

The alleged headbutt was ‘not only a nasty lie but a ridiculous one’, he said, as the evidence will show there was mere ‘minor and accidental contact’ between their faces.

He went on: ‘In stark contrast to the picture painted by Ms Greville, Mr Giggs did not control or coerce at all.’

The court heard that Ms Greville was employed by PR firm Tangerine for part of the alleged period of controlling behaviour and also by Giggs’ own company, GG Hospitality.

Mr Daw said his client encouraged her career ambitions and went on to introduce most of her clients when she set up her business herself and earned a six-figure salary.

He said Ms Greville was ‘always completely financially independent’ and was free to travel and see her friends.

Giggs stood down in June as manager of the Wales national team following a period of leave since November 2020.

During his time at Old Trafford, Manchester United won 13 Premier League titles, two Champions League trophies, four FA Cups and three League Cups.

He won 64 caps for Wales and is co-owner of League Two side Salford City.

Giggs met Ms Greville in 2013 after she helped promote his Hotel Football venue, launched with ex-United teammate Gary Neville.

He divorced his wife Stacey in December 2017. 

Giggs found love again with lingerie model, Zara Charles, 33, who has ‘supported’ him through the charges.