Ryan Giggs argued with ex at Winter Wonderland after she accused him of flirting with TV presenter

Ryan Giggs and his ex-girlfriend made explicit videos together and had a ‘healthy sex life’ which sometimes became ‘rough’, a court today heard.

Giving evidence in his domestic assault trial, the former Manchester United star, 48, said he and ex-partner Kate Greville recorded X-rated videos during their relationship.

Asked by his lawyer, Chris Daw QC, about their sex life, Giggs replied: ‘It was the same as always. We had a healthy sex life and sometimes it could get rough.’

When asked what he did with the videos when he and Ms Greville were going through an off period, Giggs told the court that he deleted them from his phone. 

The former Wales winger also said that when he and Ms Greville would rekindle their romance that she would then send them to him again. 

Today Giggs also told jurors how he had argued with Ms Greville at Winter Wonderland after she accused him of ‘flirting’ with a ‘very attractive’ sports presenter during a Christmas night out.

He said Ms Greville became ‘uncomfortable’ after he was paired with the unnamed TV presenter during a corporate crazy golf event for his agent’s company. 

The group, which also involved cricket stars, then moved to Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park where they had a table of 20 booked in the German beer hall.

But Giggs today told the court he began arguing with Ms Greville during the party after she accused him of ‘flirting’.

Speaking about the incident, he told jurors: ‘I got paired with a lady who’s a sport presenter. Kate got paired with someone else. Kate felt uneasy with who she was paired with. 

‘She wasn’t happy I was paired with a sport presenter, understandably. She didn’t know many people there. It would have been a couple of hours, having a few drinks.’

Giggs was asked why she was ‘uncomfortable’, prompting Giggs to say that the woman he was paired with ‘was an attractive lady’.

Giggs said Ms Greville later accused him of flirting with the sports presenter – something he denied – and that they had an argument about it. Mr Daw asked: ‘Had you (flirted) on this occasion?’

Giggs replied: ‘No. I was at one end of the table speaking to my agent and a few cricketers I knew and the other end were a group of girls who worked for the agency, and the sports presenter I mentioned.

‘I thought we were getting on fine. I said (to Kate) ‘is everything OK?’ and she said ‘no, not really’, which surprised me.

‘She just accused me of flirting with the girl which I was not. We were at opposite ends of the table. She said ‘you kept looking at her, I was watching you, you were definitely flirting’.’

The court heard the row, in December 2019, led to an argument at the Stafford Hotel in London, where Ms Greville claims he threw a bag at her head with a laptop on it, kicked her out of bed and ejected her naked into the corridor. 

It comes after Giggs yesterday admitted in court to being a ‘love cheat’ who can ‘never’ resist an attractive woman as he admitted to cheating on his first wife with Kate Greville following his ‘very public’ affair with his sister-in-law.

While in the witness box, the ex-footballer admitted to being ‘a flirt by nature’ who has ‘never’ been faithful to any of his former girlfriends. 

In a candid summary of his love life, the ex-Premier League star admitted that he is ‘never’ able to resist an attractive woman – regardless of whether or not he is in a relationship. 

He also told jurors that he had been unfaithful to his ex-wife, Stacey Giggs during a ‘very public affair’ – referencing his eight-year fling with his sister-in-law that saw her fall pregnant – and a later entanglement with now ex-girlfriend Kate Greville, an affair he admitted allowed him to ‘have his cake and eat it’.

However he strongly denied ever attacking Ms Greville, who has accused him of ‘headbutting’ her during a row at his £1.7million mansion. When asked if he had ever had ever assaulted a woman, Giggs replied: ‘No’.

The former Wales midfielder’s ‘love cheat’ admission came as he began giving evidence in his domestic assault trial.

Giggs is accused of assaulting ex-partner Ms Greville and her sister Emma during an incident at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, in November 2020.

He denies the charges, as well as using controlling and coercive behaviour towards ex Kate during their ‘toxic’ six-year on-and-off relationship, and is currently on trial.

Giggs (pictured) is accused of assaulting ex-partner Ms Greville and her sister Emma during an incident at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, in November 2020. He denies the charges, as well as using controlling and coercive behaviour towards ex Kate during their ‘toxic’ six-year on-and-off relationship, and is currently on trial 

Ryan Giggs (pictured right arriving in court on Wednesday morning) yesterday admitted in court to being a ‘love cheat’ who can ‘never’ resist an attractive woman. He admitted to cheating on his first wife with Kate Greville (pictured left) following his ‘very public’ affair with his sister-in-law. Taking to the witness box for the first time in his domestic assault trial, the ex-footballer, 48, admitted to being ‘a flirt by nature’ who has ‘never’ been faithful to any of his former girlfriends. 

Ex Manchester United Star and Wales Manager Ryan Giggs arrives at court in a car to continue giving evidence in his domestic assault trial

Taking to the witness box for the first time in his domestic assault trial, the ex-footballer (pictured here in a court sketch), 48, admitted to being ‘a flirt by nature’ who has ‘never’ been faithful to his ex or any of his former girlfriends

Today Giggs entered the witness box for his second day of evidence over allegations of assault and controlling behaviour.

His barrister Mr Daw asked Giggs, wearing a grey suit and standing to face the jury, whether he had ever been sent off in the more than 1,000 matches he played in his 24-year career.

Giggs replied: ‘Once for Wales. It was for two bookable offences.’ He said it was ‘part and parcel’ of being a footballer to be wound up and verbally abused on the pitch.

Mr Daw asked: ‘On any occasion did you react to any of that with violence?’ ‘No,’ replied Giggs.

Giggs also told the court he and Kate Greville had a healthy sex life and that sometimes it could get rough.

Giggs was asked about a message including a picture of him with the word ‘Bully’. He told the court the message  was ‘a joke’ after he had a scratch on his neck from sex.

The court heard Ms Greville replied: ‘Oops, sorry baby. I have a bruise on my arm but you can’t see it because I’m so brown.’

Asked by Mr Daw about the nature of Giggs’ and Ms Greville’s sex life during this time, Giggs said: ‘The nature was the same as it had always been – a healthy sex life and sometimes it could get rough.’

Mr Daw also asked Giggs about an allegation that he was putting more pressure on Ms Greville to have sex. He replied: ‘Whenever we had sex it was always mutual.’

Mr Daw went through a series of messages between Giggs and Ms Greville in 2017. A message from Ms Greville to Giggs said: ‘I want you so badly. Rough xx.’ Giggs replied: ‘Do you? I’m scared of hurting you.’

Ms Greville said: ‘I want it to hurt a little, not in a weird way, I just want you to shock and surprise me.’

In response to a message from Giggs that it was ‘a fine line,’ Ms Greville then said: ‘We’ll just have to have fun finding that line then.’

Asked by Chris Daw QC about whether the pair had an equal interest in rough sex, Ryan Giggs replied: ‘From this exchange it looks like Kate, but throughout the relationship it was just mutual.’

The court heard that Giggs and Ms Greville frequently made sex videos together during their tumultuous on-off relationship.

When asked what he did with the videos when he and Ms Greville were going through an off period, Giggs told the court that he deleted them from his phone.

He also said that when he and Ms Greville would rekindle their romance that she would then send them to him again.

As part of evidence, Giggs was today asked about an incident at the Stafford Hotel in London in December 2019 in which Ms Greville claims he threw a bag at her head with a laptop on it, kicked her out of bed and ejected her naked into the corridor.

He told the court the couple had earlier travelled down for his agent’s Christmas party which included a mini-golf tournament, a trip to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park and a visit to a nightclub.

A draw took place for the golf event as Giggs was paired with a female sports presenter, who he described as an ‘attractive lady’.

Ms Greville was not happy, he said, and they swapped golfing partners to play alongside each other.

The party of about 20 people moved on to Winter Wonderland where a table had been booked at a Bavarian beer garden tent.

Ryan Giggs told the court Kate Greville later accused him of flirting with the TV presenter he had been paired with for the golf.

Mr Daw asked: ‘Had you on this occasion?’ Giggs replied: ‘No. I was at one end of the table speaking to my agent and a few cricketers I knew and the other end were a group of girls who worked for the agency, and the sports presenter I mentioned.

‘I thought we were getting on fine. I said (to Kate) ‘is everything OK?’ and she said ‘no, not really’, which surprised me. She just accused me of flirting with the girl which I was not. We were at opposite ends of the table.

‘She said ‘you kept looking at her, I was watching you, you were definitely flirting’.’

Ryan Giggs told the jury: ‘I was slightly embarrassed we were arguing. I left on my own. I walked to the club where we going next. It was a long walk.’

Others in the party later arrived as Giggs sat in a booth facing the dancefloor. He said: ‘I was sat down and had a clear view of Kate (Greville) and one of the male sports presenters who was present.

‘They were dancing together, holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes. I couldn’t believe it. I said to my agent ‘I’m going’ and got a taxi and went back to the hotel.’

Mr Daw asked: ‘Was there a confrontation in the club?’ Giggs replied: ‘I was tired. I didn’t want to get into an argument. ‘I got a taxi back to the Stafford, got into bed and fell asleep.’

Giggs told the court that after ‘a hour or so’ the concierge rang to ask if he could let in a young woman who claimed she was staying in his room.

An argument followed with Ms Greville in their room as she denied holding hands with the male ‘in the middle of the dancefloor in front of my friends and colleagues’, he added.

Giggs said: ‘Kate was then trying to get into bed and I said I’m not sleeping with you tonight. There was a suite in the room and I said you can sleep in the area where there is a couch.’

He said he threw a Louis Vuitton holdall in the direction of the bed. Giggs said: ‘Kate was still trying to get into bed. I was trying to push her into the lounge area. Then quite quickly the argument fizzled out and we both spent the night together.’

Mr Daw asked Giggs: ‘Did you in any way do anything physical towards her that night?’ The former footballer replied: ‘No, I did not. We were both quite drunk and fell asleep. In the morning we woke up and had sex.’

The next day he was busy with television duties in west London while Ms Greville travelled to a wedding in Shropshire, the court heard.

Giggs later drove back to Manchester at night and collected Ms Greville from the wedding the following morning. He denied her suggestion that he volunteered to pick her up out of guilt.

The court also heard that Giggs and Ms Greville broke up for several weeks around Christmas 2019, but got back together and went on holiday to Dubai in February 2020.

He told the court they had a ‘nice holiday’ until the penultimate day, when he accidentally called her by his ex-wife Stacey’s name when they were on the way back to the hotel from lunch.

He said they had been drinking wine ‘more or less all day’ and were ‘both quite drunk’, adding: ‘It was just a slip of the tongue. She (Kate) wasn’t happy, obviously with the history that we had, the break-up, understandably my ex-wife wasn’t a fan of Kate.

‘I had obviously had issues with the relationship between myself and my ex-wife because of what had happened. She (Kate) took it as a derogatory remark but I didn’t mean it like that – it was just a slip of the tongue.’

Giggs told jurors the argument ‘escalated’ and he asked Ms Greville to leave his hotel room, which she did. He said that before she left, he ‘might have tried to stop her from leaving’ so they could resolve the argument, but did not ‘remember any physical sort of interaction’.

The court heard that Giggs left Dubai alone while Ms Greville stayed on with friends.

‘I was on a flight on my own, devastated,’ he said.

Ms Greville previously told the court that during the argument Giggs had grabbed her bag and pulled it on her arm ‘really hard’, causing her to fall on her knee.

Giggs said Ms Greville moved into his house during the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020, and his daughter and her boyfriend were there most of the time, with his son also staying regularly.

Chris Daw QC asked about Ms Greville describing lockdown as ‘hell’ during her evidence.

Giggs said: ‘It was a really happy time from my perspective,’ adding that they would ‘bicker’ but had ‘no big arguments’.

Asked whether he was ‘particularly keen on dishwasher loading techniques’, Giggs said the dishwasher would often be on three to four cycles a day due to the number of people staying in the house.

‘I would be opening the dishwasher and the tablespoons would be the wrong way round.

‘It would wind me up because I would have to do it again so I called a team meeting and just said, ‘Everyone, can you please put the tablespoons the right way round’.

‘It wasn’t a big argument, it was just how I explained it.’

The court heard that Giggs and Ms Greville’s relationship deteriorated in June 2020 and she moved out of his house. Giggs said the two were still in contact and he still considered them to be in a relationship at the time.

He told the court he had been planning to accompany her on a work trip to Scotland but that, shortly beforehand, she told him she would get a lift with someone else.

Mr Daw asked Giggs about an email he then sent to Ms Greville with the subject ‘C***!!!’

He said: ‘I was obviously upset, angry that the trip we had planned, that I was no longer going on.’

Asked how he felt about his choice of language, Giggs replied: ‘I can’t believe I would use that sort of language to someone I was supposedly in love with.’

He agreed with Mr Daw that he said some ‘truly appalling things’ in the email, and said there was ‘no excuse whatsoever

Following the end of the prosecution case, in which Ms Greville accused Giggs of cheating with up to 12 different women during their relationship, the football star’s lawyer Chris Daw QC yesterday called his client to give evidence.

Kate Greville and her sister, Emma. Giggs denies assaulting and using controlling and coercive behaviour against Kate (left) and Emma (pictured right)

Giggs told how he and Ms Greville pair swapped photographs of each other while they were on their travels including one from her in a cropped gym top.

He told the court: ‘I had never seen her body before. It was the first time I knew she had abs. She was in good shape.’

Chris Daw asked: ‘What impact did that have on you?’ Giggs replied: ‘I thought she looked hot.’

He said he first met Ms Greville in around 2013-14 when she worked for the PR firm employed to look after his businesses with Gary Neville.

Giggs told the court: ‘The first time I met Kate I was immediately attracted to her, I thought she was attractive, I thought she was intelligent, I thought she was funny.’

He confirmed he knew Ms Greville was married at the time and that she knew he was married too – at the time to Stacey Giggs, the mother of his two children.

Giggs said: ‘We were both married. Kate, as we got to know each other, started to open up about how unhappy she was in her marriage. In my marriage I was not as happy as I had been.’

The ex-footballer yesterday admitted being unfaithful to his former wife Stacey Giggs. Asked by Chris Daw QC if he was faithful to Stacey Giggs, 38, the ex-footballer said: ‘No, I wasn’t.’

He said he met his now ex-wife, Stacey, at a barbecue when he was 18 and the pair started a relationship when he was in his late 20s.

He told the court they moved to Worsley, Greater Manchester, and had two children, Libby and Zach.

He described his relationship with his children as ‘very good’ and said they maintain contact ‘every day’.

Asked if he was honest about his infidelity, Giggs replied: ‘I wasn’t honest with her, no.’

Mr Daw began by asking Giggs about his reputation, both on and off the field.  Mr Daw asked: ‘To begin with, you are well known all over the world for two things. One, as a footballer?’

‘Yes,’ said Giggs. Mr Daw said: ‘But you are also known for something else, you have a reputation for infidelity?’ Giggs replied: ‘Yes.’ Mr Daw said: ‘Is that reputation justified?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Chris Daw asked: ‘In the course of your relationships with women, up to and including Ms Greville, have you managed to be faithful to any of them?’ ‘No,’ said Giggs.

The barrister: ‘If an attractive woman has shown you interest regardless of your marital status, are you able to resist?’ Giggs replied: ‘No.’

Mr Daw said: ‘Are you a flirt by nature?’ ‘Yes,’ said Giggs. He confirmed that he lied to his ex-wife Stacey and Ms Greville about his infidelities.

However he said he had never attacked his former partners.  Mr Daw asked: ‘Have you ever physically assaulted a woman?’. Giggs replied: ‘No’. 

Mr Daw went on: ‘Either on November 1 2020 or on any other occasion?’ Giggs repeated: ‘No.’

His barrister asked: ‘Have you ever set out to control or coerce a woman in any way or in the ways alleged by Ms Greville?’ Giggs said: ‘No.’

Mr Daw continued: ‘Did you make Kate Greville a slave to your every need and every demand as she described?’ Giggs said: ‘I did not.’ 

He said he started flirting with her after the ‘first couple of times they met’ and they went on to socialise among their work group.

Giggs said their contact moved to the ‘next level’ when he met her alone as she collected a signed football shirt for her mother.

Recalling the first time he and Ms Greville slept together during a work trip to London planned ahead of a photo-shoot for Cafe Football, Giggs said: ‘I think there was a lot of flirtation.

‘Nothing was made solid. But we were going to spend the night together for the first time.

‘Kate had sourced the hotel. I sorted the train tickets out. Kate booked the hotel room and we travelled on the train together.’

Giggs said they were invited by the hotel manager to look round the room but it was ‘really small’ and he was given a ‘bigger room’

He continued: ‘We both agreed it was a really nice room.

‘We dropped the bags off and went to the roof, to the terrace bar.

‘We had a few drinks, we got on really well. I had an interview and pictures the next day so I wasn’t going to drink that much.’ Giggs said he had ‘two or three drinks’ before he and Ms Greville went back to the room.

Asked if it was the first time the couple were ‘sexually active together’ Giggs replied that it was and that both were as equally as keen. He added: ‘We went back to the room, had sex and we stayed the night.’

He said Ms Greville eventually left her husband and said ‘it was no longer than six months’ after their first sexual contact.

Giggs said he continued to stay at his family home with then wife Stacey and their two children as the affair carried on.

Chris Daw said: ‘You then finally brought the relationship with Stacey to an end?’

Giggs said: ‘It was a press article where I was linked with Kate. She (Stacey) questioned me about it. I denied it.’

He said it was ‘hard’ to leave the family home following the story published in May 2016 as he first went to live nearby with his mother before he stayed in an apartment in Salford Quays with a friend.

Mr Daw asked: ‘Was it an amicable situation with Stacey or was it challenging?’

Giggs said: ‘No, I would say challenging.’

Shortly after in the summer of 2016 he said Ms Greville was planning to move to Abu Dhabi for a work opportunity.

Giggs said that in 2016 Kate Greville had the opportunity to launch a business in Abu Dhabi, and that he ‘didn’t want her to go’ but that the pair decided they would ‘make it work’.

Giggs was asked about the first two-year period of his relationship with Kate Greville.

He confirmed there were ‘ups and downs’ and they had a ‘mutual’ issue about how quickly they would respond to each other’s messages.

He said: ‘Early on it was a joke.

‘It became a pattern – ‘you must be busy, no time to speak to me’. It was a pattern pretty early on in the relationship.’

Giggs told how Ms Greville returned to the UK in 2018 from her job in the Middle East.

He said: ‘Kate was not enjoying the work in Abu Dhabi, she felt a bit lonely.’

He admitted that in the 15-month period Ms Greville was in Abu Dhabi, he had been seeing other women, but had not been open with her about it.

He said he ‘welcomed’ Ms Greville’s decision to come back to the UK and employed her as head of PR of the business he ran with Gary Neville.

He said: ‘She was then going to work for mine and Gary’s company. Looking after Cafe Football and Hotel Football and we were about to launch the Stock Exchange hotel full time. I thought she was amazing at her job.

‘Myself and Gary had worked with her before she went to Abu Dhabi and it was one of the reasons, we knew what she was capable of.

‘It felt right, it was an opportunity for her to come back. Me and Kate were going out and she knew about the different businesses and where we wanted to take the company. She just wanted to be her own boss and was excited about the challenge.’

Giggs said that she was the most senior member of staff in her department, earning around £100,000 a year. He said she made a good start and impressed Neville.

Giggs told the court he had interview for the role of manager of the Wales national football team in January 2018.

He described it as a ‘dream job’ but said there were ‘demands’ and ‘pressure’ that came with the role. He said: ‘It was a huge job. I put pressure on myself. I wanted to be the best manager I could be. I watched as many players as I could.’

Mr Daw asked about an incident at the Westin Hotel in Dubai in 2017, when Kate Greville alleges Ryan Giggs dragged her naked body across the floor of his hotel room before throwing her belongings into a corridor.

Giggs said they had been ‘delighted’ to have a chance to see each other again while he was playing in a futsal tournament in Dubai.

He told the court they went to a club that night and were initially ‘getting on really well’.

Giggs said things took a turn for the worse after he started replying to a message from his daughter.

‘I could just feel Kate sort of looking over and sort of wondering who I was messaging. I just got a bit irritated because she was making it quite obvious she was peering over my shoulder. I just said: ‘I’m messaging Libby’.

‘It felt like she didn’t believe it was Libby who I was messaging.’ Giggs said he then ‘stormed off’ and went back to his hotel room.

Giggs said Ms Greville followed him back to his hotel room and the pair started arguing. He told the court: ‘I said: ‘You are accusing me of messaging someone when it was my daughter’.

‘She didn’t like that and we just got into an argument about it.’

Giggs denied there was any ‘physical element’ to the argument and said he started packing Ms Greville’s suitcase after telling her he didn’t want her to stay with him.

‘Kate was trying to stop me from putting clothes and various other stuff into the suitcase. I didn’t manage to shut it but I was ushering her towards the front door with the suitcase.’

Ryan Giggs on Tuesday admitted being unfaithful to his former wife Stacey Giggs. Asked by Chris Daw QC if he was faithful to Ms Giggs, 38, the ex-footballer said: ‘No, I wasn’t.’ Giggs said he met his now ex-wife at a barbecue when he was 18 and the pair started a relationship when he was in his late 20s. He told the court they moved to Worsley, Greater Manchester, and had two children, Libby and Zach.

He said they were ‘half outside’ in the corridor and half in the hotel room before Ms Greville managed to get the suitcase back and get back into the room.

Giggs said he then told Kate Greville to sleep on the sofa, but that after they calmed down they had sex and spent the night together in the same bed.

‘We had sex that we would have quite often which could get quite rough, but not anything weird, but just rough.’

Chris Daw QC said: ‘Was that sort of sexual activity something the two of you engaged in regularly.’

Giggs replied: ‘Yes.’ Mr Daw said: ‘Who was the primary instigator?’

Giggs said: ‘It was both of us, especially after not seeing each other for a long period of time. We would message each other what we were going to do.’

He told the court there was no issue between the two of them the next day. Asked by Mr Daw whether that sort of incident was unusual in the relationship, Giggs said: ‘It wasn’t unusual but I wouldn’t say it was regular.’

Giggs also told the court they would block each other numerous times in similar exchanges.

Chris Daw said: ‘To some that may seem fairly immature behaviour, do you agree?’

‘Yes,’ said Giggs. Mr Daw asked: ‘Why?’

Giggs replied: ‘I think it was just something that happened early on in our relationship and it just carried on.’

Mr Daw said: ‘Thinking back, was this healthy?’ ‘No,’ said Giggs. 

He added: ‘It was some sort of cycle we had developed early on in our relationship. Sometime jokey, sometimes serious. Like you say, it was immature.’

Mr Daw asked: ‘As far as your evidence is concerned was there any element of the behaviour that was anything other than immature, that it was controlling and you were using this technique as some form of controlling mechanism?’ Giggs replied: ‘No.’

Chris Daw asked Ryan Giggs why he would continue to contact Kate Greville after she blocked him during their ‘rollercoaster-type relationship’.

Giggs said: ‘When we would have breaks and then we got back together she would say things like: ‘Good job you fought for us’.

‘I always got the impression that I had to fight for the relationship.’

He added that when they fell out or broke up, Ms Greville ‘wanted me to try and woo her back’. 

Mr Daw asked Giggs why he sent Ms Greville an email with the subject ‘Blackmail’ and a video attached of her dancing to Christmas songs.

He said: ‘It was just a joke between me and Kate. Just dancing embarrassingly, something which was out of her nature, acting silly at a Christmas party.’

Giggs told the court he had ‘never’ shared any private photos or videos of Ms Greville. He added that he would never share such material.

It comes as the court heard how Giggs told detectives that he ‘caught’ his ex-girlfriend and her sister during a ‘scuffle’ at his £1.7million mansion, but insisted: ‘It was not deliberate’.

Giggs gave a pre-prepared statement to officers hours after he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Ms Greville and her sister Emma during a row at his Manchester home in November 2020.

He told officers that he and Kate had initially ‘tussled’ after she took hold of the phone, and that Ms Greville had ‘caught’ him in the face ‘causing bleeding to the lip and inner mouth’.

He said he then ‘foolishly’ took hold of Ms Greville’s phone, leading to the pair again making contact. Ms Greville has previously claimed that Giggs ‘deliberatley headbutted’ her. But Giggs insisted in his police statement ‘At no time was there any attempt to harm either of them.’

In the statement – read by prosecutor Peter Wright QC during Giggs’ assault and controlling behaviour trial at Manchester Crown Court yesterday morning – Giggs told DC Adam’ Agrebi and another officer that he had tried to ‘diffuse the situation’.

But he said in the statement:  ‘I regret that this argument got so out of hand.’ He also told officers: ‘It is correct that unfortunately Kate and I got into an argument that resulted in us getting into a tussle.

‘She caught me in the face causing bleeding to my lip and inner mouth. I may have caught her and her sister during the scuffle. At no time was there any intent.’

Ms Greville has told the court she returned to the UK from the Middle East thinking she would be in a relationship with Giggs, but he instead became more distant

Giggs said his phone had been taken by Ms Greville following a row between the pair – which started at the Stock Exchange Hotel in Manchester and had returned to his £1.7million mansion in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

He said that he had asked Ms Greville and Emma, who was dog sitting at the time, to leave his house in a taxi as she was too drunk to drive and her sister was not insured to drive the car.

He said he tried to ‘diffuse’ the situation further by getting a neighbour to call the police, and when she refused ‘I now had no option’ but to go back to the house and demand his phone back in order to dial 999.

With the sister still refusing to leave, Giggs said he went into the utility room to get Ms Greville’s phone and ‘rather foolishly I decided to keep hers’.

He continued: ‘I accept I should not have done this but I was emotional, angry and upset. She grabbed me by the hand and a scuffle broke out.

‘I accept during this scuffle my head clashed with her. What I am sure is that it was not deliberate.’

Giggs said he was ‘attacked’ adding: ‘I regret that this argument got so out of hand. Kate and I had a great week together and I was looking forward to our night at Stock Exchange hotel.

‘I sincerely hope this is not the end of our relationship and we can talk this through. At no point did I deliberately harm her or want to harm her.’

The court also heard Giggs was interviewed by police again in December 2020, a month after his first interview, in relation to an allegation of coercive and controlling behaviour after officers obtained more alleged details from Kate Greville.

In a prepared defence statement given to police and read in court by Mr Wright QC, he said: ‘I will not accept that my behaviour towards my former partner has been in any way controlling or coercive, nor that I have done any of the incidents in the manner described.’

He described Ms Greville in the statement as a ‘mature, strong, independent woman’ who he said was ‘successful’ in his own right.

Giggs also told police how Ms Greville had ‘ordered’ him to message women who she ‘incorrectly accused’ him of having affairs with and that she had offered to meet them in order to ‘ensure nothing was going on’.

In response to an allegation he had threatened to release intimate photos of Ms Greville and/or himself, Giggs’ statement said he ‘didn’t recall’ making the threat and would ‘never’ have released such material.

He said: ‘I would be terrified of the publicity that would be generated. Kate knows how I feel regarding the press and negative publicity.’

The statement said that even if a threat had been made ‘in jest or in drink,’ it would be ‘preposterous’ for Ms Greville to believe it would be carried out.

He told police he accepted their relationship was ‘not perfect’ but it was ‘mainly one of love and affection.’

And he said most of the alleged incidents – listed by Ms Greville as part of the prosecution’s against Giggs –  occurred after she had ‘too much to drink’ and she became ‘entirely jealous’ when she was drunk.

He continued: ‘I would not react with violence. I would often walk away from incidents.’ Giggs said it had been suggested his arguments with Ms Greville were the result of him being defensive over allegations he was having affairs.

But he explained to officers at Swinton Police Station in Manchester that he had been living with Ms Greville, they had bought two dogs and he thought they were ‘planning for a future together’.

He said: ‘I feel extremely distressed, hurt and emotional by the way this relationship is being painted to me.’

Last week the court heard accusations from Ms Greville that Giggs was having ‘full-on’ affairs with eight other women during their ‘toxic’ six-year on-off relationship.

The PR executive made the discovery after accessing the football star’s iPad having ‘made it my mission to find out the truth’ about his other lovers, she told police.

Ms Greville (pictured) previously told the court she had found evidence on an iPad that Giggs had engaged in ‘full-on’ relationships with eight other women during their six-year on and off relationship, and initially told police at the scene the number was as high as 12

Ryan Giggs mother Lynne at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to support her son on Tuesday – on day seven of her son’s trial

She said how, during what she called a ‘cycle of abuse’, Giggs ‘dragged’ her out of the bedroom of a five-star hotel – leaving her naked in the corridor – after she accused him of ‘manically’ flirting with other women during a night out.

He then threw a bag containing her laptop at her head, giving her a ‘massive lump’, Manchester Crown Court heard.

When she attempted to leave him over his alleged flings and ‘controlling’ behaviour, Giggs would ‘bombard’ her with up to 50 messages an hour and threatened to ruin her career, she claimed.

Eventually she got into his iPad as she ‘needed to know the truth’ – and the ‘reality’ of his cheating was ‘way worse than I could imagine’, she said.

Giggs stood down in June as manager of the Wales national team following his arrest. 

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.

Giggs’ legal counsel, Chris Daw QC, 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.

The trial continues.