Ryan Giggs ‘tried to create a narrative in which he was the victim,’ assault trial hears

Ex-Manchester United star Ryan Giggs attempted to make himself out as the ‘victim’ after allegedly attacking his former girlfriend and her sister during a row at his £1.7million mansion, a court today heard.

The former footballer, 48, this morning faced a second day of cross-examination from prosecutor Peter Wright QC, who probed Giggs on his statement to the police the day after the alleged assault on Kate Greville.

Mr Wright today asked the former Wales midfielder why he had put in his statement to police that:  ‘On both occasions I was attacked.’ Speaking from the witness box, Giggs responded: ‘I don’t know’.

Mr Wright said: ‘It is because you had at this stage lost all sense of reason and you were seeking to turn the narrative of what happened into one in which you were the victim?’ Giggs said: ‘No.’

Giggs also denied using ’emotional blackmail’ to stop Ms Greville’s sister, Emma, from calling the police on the night of the alleged assault, in November 2020.

During a 999 call made by Emma to the police, that was played to the jury earlier in the trial, she can be heard saying: ‘I don’t care if your daughter is 17’ as she was on the phone to a call handler, the court heard.

Giggs, under questioning from Mr Wright, denied using ’emotional blackmail’, but accepted he was attempting to stop Emma from calling the police. 

Mr Wright added: ‘And you were seeking to use your daughter as the lever, weren’t you?’ ‘Yes,’ Giggs said again.

The ex-Premier League star is accused of assaulting ex Kate Greville – who claims Giggs ‘deliberately’ headbutted her – during the incident at his home in November 2020.

He is also accused of assaulting Ms Greville’s sister Emma – who was dog sitting on the night of the incident and who claims Giggs elbowed her after she tried to intervene.

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 at Manchester Crown Court.

Ryan Giggs (pictured right arriving in court on Thursday 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. 

Former Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs arrives at Manchester Crown Court (pictured) where he is accused of controlling and coercive behaviour against ex-girlfriend Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020

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 denied headbutting his ex-partner after ‘completely losing his self-control’ during an argument.

Mr Wright asked Giggs about the prepared statement he gave to police the day after the incident, in which he said a ‘scuffle’ broke out over Ms Greville’s phone, and that his head clashed with hers accidentally.

The prosecutor said: ‘The reality is you headbutted her, didn’t you?’ Giggs said: ‘No.’

Mr Wright said: ‘Because in this dispute with her, you had, by that stage, completely lost your self control.’ Giggs repeated: ‘No.’

He also denied threatening to headbutt Ms Greville’s sister Emma. The ex-Wales manager told the court he ‘didn’t know’ why he had put in his police statement: ‘On both occasions I was attacked.’ He agreed with Mr Wright that it was ‘an important assertion to be making’.

Giggs was also asked about the line in his statement: ‘The last thing I would ever want to do is harm her (Ms Greville) emotionally or physically.’ Asked by Mr Wright if that was true, Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Mr Wright said: ‘Or is it in fact that these are the two things you did intend so far as this woman is concerned?’ Giggs replied: ‘No.’

He agreed with Mr Wright that after the ‘scuffle’ he had been ‘chastising’ Emma Greville for calling the police. Mr Wright said: ‘You were blaming her for what had happened, weren’t you?’  Giggs replied: ‘Yes.’

Mr Wright asked: ‘Why were you blaming Emma?’ Giggs said: ‘I don’t know.’

Mr Wright also asked Giggs if he heard Emma Greville say to the 999 call operator: ‘He said he is going to headbutt me’.

Mr Wright asked: ‘Did you hear that allegation by her?’ Giggs said: ‘I’m not too sure.’

Mr Wright reminded Giggs he could be heard saying ‘thanks’ in the background during the emergency call.

Mr Wright asked: ‘Why were you saying that?’ Giggs told the court: ‘I don’t know.’

Mr Wright said: ‘You were certainly not saying it to be grateful, were you?’ ‘No,’ said Giggs.

Mr Wright said: ‘It was said sarcastically, wasn’t it?’ Giggs said: ‘I don’t know.’

Mr Wright said: ‘What you were doing was blaming her?’ ‘No,’ replied Giggs.

It comes after Giggs yesterday broke down in court as he described staying in a police cell on the night of his arrest for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend as ‘the worst experience of my life’.

The former footballer said he was ‘so scared’ after being taken to Pendleton police station for allegedly headbutting Ms Greville during the row at his £1.7million mansion. He added that he got ‘hardly any’ sleep that night and spoke to a solicitor for the first time the next day. 

Giggs also told the court yesterday that he believed PR executive Ms Greville was trying to leave his home with their cocker spaniel puppy ‘Mac’ on the night of the alleged assault.

He told jurors that during the row both he and Ms Greville fell to the floor after ‘slipping on shopping bags’ as he attempted to grab his phone from her.

Giggs claimed she kicked him ‘six or seven times’ in the head and that, after getting up, they engaged in a ‘tug-of-war’ in which they ‘clashed heads’.

Earlier this week Giggs 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 Ms 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 Ms 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’.

Yesterday the court heard how Giggs admitted to sending ‘flirtatious’ messages to another woman during his relationship with Ms Greville. 

The ex-Premier League star said his former partner went through his phone and found the messages before sending them to her phone and then confronting him with them.

Giggs also told the court that Ms Greville once showed him a picture of a dress he bought for a girl she had previously accused him of ‘being with’. 

And while he accepted that Ms Greville had been correct in alleging he had been flirting with some women, he also told the court that there were occasions where she had ‘incorrectly’ accused him.

In cross examination by prosecutor Peter Wright QC, he accepted he was a ‘man with many faults and flaws’. 

Meanwhile, jury members were also told by Giggs how he and Ms Greville made explicit videos together and had a ‘healthy sex life’ which sometimes became ‘rough’. 

He said he and Ms Greville recorded X-rated videos during their 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. 

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. 

Yesterday, 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 Munich-style German beer hall.

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

Giggs denied throwing Greville out of the room and kicking her in the back, then throwing her bag at her when she accused him of sleeping with other women.

He told the court: ‘That did not happen.’

Peter Wright QC asked about photos of Ms Greville with a bruise on her wrist and knee, which Giggs said was from rough sex.

‘What were your injuries from this rough, consensual sex?’ he asked. ‘The scratch on your neck – that was it, was it?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Mr Wright said: ‘Sending constant unwanted messages, making constant unwanted calls to her and her friends when she tried to break off the relationship. Do you accept you did that?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Mr Wright said: ‘Turning up unannounced at her home, workplace and gym – do you accept you did that?’ Giggs repeated: ‘Yes.’

Yesterday, Giggs, wearing a grey suit and standing to face the jury, entered the witness box for his second day of evidence over allegations of assault and controlling behaviour.

His barrister, Chris Daw QC, asked the former football star about the argument that started on November 1 2020 – the night the former footballer is alleged to have headbutted Kate Greville.

Giggs told the court it started at the Stock Exchange Hotel after Ms Greville said a man had asked her out the previous week.

‘I just said: ‘Oh, what did you say?’ and Kate replied: ‘I just said haven’t you got a girlfriend?’ ‘I just said: ‘That’s a strange thing to say, why didn’t you just say you had a boyfriend?”

Giggs said the argument escalated and he left the table and went to his hotel room, shortly followed by Ms Greville.

He told jurors: ‘Kate confronted me, shoved her phone in my face and says ‘Who’s this?’ She had an email with a girl’s name at the top.’

Giggs said the email was from 2014 and it was a woman he used to work with. Ryan Giggs agreed with Mr Daw that Ms Greville had accused him of infidelity on ‘many occasions’.

Mr Daw said: ‘Were some of these occasions justified?’ Giggs replied: ‘Yes.’ Mr Daw said: ‘On other occasions did she accuse you of things where nothing had happened?’ Giggs replied: ‘Yes.’

Speaking of the hotel incident, Mr Daw said: ‘Was this one in the latter category?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Giggs said Ms Greville showed him a picture of a dress he bought for a girl she had previously accused him of ‘being with’, and he asked her to leave, which she did. He denied being ‘aggressive’ and said he did not know where Ms Greville was going.

Giggs said the concierge at the hotel gave him a lift back to his house Worsley and when he got there he saw the dog Mac’s cage was in the boot of his other car, a Mercedes.

He told jurors he took the cage out of the car, as well as some of the dog’s blankets and toys, but nothing that was not dog-related. ‘I quickly worked out they were trying to take Mac,’ he said.

Asked by Chris Daw QC why he did not want them to take Mac, Giggs replied: ‘He’s my dog.  ‘I told them (Ms Greville and her sister Emma) they are not taking Mac, he’s my dog, he lives here, and I wanted them to leave.’

Giggs said he then started moving some of Ms Greville’s bags and taking them to the end of the drive.

Giggs told the jury: ‘They were just not leaving. Emma was upset. Kate was messing around with Mac. I said I would call the police… just to scare them into going. 

‘I wanted to let them know I wanted them to go and I was serious. I couldn’t find my phone. I asked Kate ‘have you got my phone?’ and she replied ‘no’.’

Mr Daw asked: ‘Did you believe her?’ ‘No,’ said Giggs. ‘I retraced my tracks and I couldn’t find it.’

Giggs put his slippers on and walked to his next-door neighbour to ask for her assistance, the court heard. He said he was ‘distressed’ and ‘frustrated’ that the two women were not leaving.

He said he did not take his neighbour’s advice to stay with her or lock himself in one of his bedrooms. Giggs told the court: ‘I was well within my rights to ask the girls to leave the house.’

He returned inside and tried to grab Ms Greville’s phone from her hand as she stood in the hallway, he said.

Giggs said: ‘I was frustrated that Kate would not give me my phone back so I tried to get her phone. 

‘As I went to grab the phone I’m facing the cloakroom door and Kate has her back to that door. 

‘We both slipped on the bags and I fell on Kate into the cloakroom.’

Mr Daw asked: ‘Was that deliberate on your part?’ Giggs said: ‘No, we just totally lost balance because we slipped on the shopping bags. 

‘My head was around her waist height. Then Kate just proceeded to kicking me in the head.’

Ryan Giggs sent a series of messages to ex-Kate Greville after she blocked him from WhatsApp, including one in which he vowed to ‘stalk you like mad’. Pictured: A mock up of one of the messages 

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC on Wednesday read out a series of emails from Giggs to Ms Greville – sent during a time in which they had split up. Pictured: A mock up of one of the messages 

In some of the messages he told his then girlfriend they could get a dog, move in together and have a baby if they were to get together. Pictured: A mock up of one of the messages 

Peter Wright QC, who is prosecuting Giggs, said the former footballer sent the messages via email after being blocked by Ms Greville. Pictured: A mock up of one of the messages 

Giggs was blocked from messaging Ms Greville on WhatsApp at the time that he sent the messages. Pictured: A mock up of Giggs’ emails. Pictured: A mock up of one of the messages

Mr Daw asked: ‘Did you do anything physical?’ Giggs replied: ‘No, as soon as we were on the floor I was just protecting my head. After these six, seven kicks to the head, I just got up and we went our separate ways.’

Giggs said he did not see Emma Greville when the struggle took place. Mr Daw asked: ‘Did you deliberately elbow Emma?’, and Giggs replied: ‘No.’

The former footballer said he later found his phone on a window sill near the front door. Mr Daw asked: ‘Were they (the sisters) showing signs they were willing to leave?’

Giggs replied: ‘Not really, no. Mac was still running about.’

He said he later discovered Kate Greville’s phone in the utility room and put it in his trouser pocket, adding: ‘It was tit for tat. If she was going to take my phone, I was going to take her phone.’

He said he moved to the kitchen where Ms Greville could see her phone was in his pocket

Giggs said: ‘She said she wanted her phone back and I said I was not giving it back. Stupidly I kept on to her phone. Then Kate sort of grabbed my wrist while my hand was in my pocket and led me to the fridge.’

He told the court: ‘I was not resisting. We went all around the kitchen island.’ Mr Daw asked: ‘How far did the two of you get around the island?’

Giggs replied: ‘All the way round up to the dining room table and chairs. Kate had then stopped because her back was against the chair and table. The tugging just got a little bit more aggressive… we were facing each other, it was sort of tug-of-war and we then clashed heads.

‘It happened really quickly. I felt my lips against hers.’ Mr Daw asked: ‘What was her reaction?’

Giggs said: ‘I could see quite clearly she had been hurt. She just fell backwards, more towards the table.’ Mr Daw asked: ‘Who was becoming more aggressive?’

Giggs said: ‘Kate got more aggressive because she was not getting any joy from getting my wrist from my pocket.’

Emma Greville then dialled 999, the court heard. Mr Daw asked Giggs how he felt about the implications of being accused in this way.

Giggs said: ‘Confused, scared. Because it now looked like a situation that was completely different. I was scared.’

At the start of the day’s evidence, Mr Daw asked Giggs 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 Ms 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.

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

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.

Mr Daw next asked Giggs about the cocker spaniel puppy named Mac he bought during his relationship with Ms Greville.

Previously, the jury has heard the footballer allegedly told her she could not take Mac from his house as she packed up her belongings before he is alleged to have headbutted her on November 1, 2020.

Giggs said he and Ms Greville went to Perthshire to view a litter of puppies. He said of the dog: ‘He was about two weeks old. He was in a litter of about seven or eight. He stood out because he was a different colour. Kate picked him because of that.’

About six weeks later Giggs returned to Scotland with his son and his best friend, Tony, to collect Mac and take him to his home in Worsley, he said.

Ryan Giggs said Ms Greville was not living with him at the time but his children were.

Giggs said: ‘We spent a lot of time in the garden and in the house, looking after the puppy who had just arrived and was really happy.’

Jurors were played a video of Giggs sitting on a chair and whistling to Mac. Mr Daw asked: ‘What was your relationship, if that is the right word, with that dog?’

Giggs replied: ‘I was his dad. I picked him up. If anyone has a puppy it is the most difficult time but best time in spending the first few weeks with them – getting used to their surroundings and getting up in the night. Basically, connecting with the dog.’

He said both his children ‘adored’ Mac. Giggs said: ‘In lockdown, Libby (my daughter) spent a lot of time with me. She had him (Mac) as a screensaver on her phone. She totally adored Mac.’

Mr Daw also questioned Giggs about claims made earlier in the trial that Ms Greville had ‘lied’ about a smear test showing ‘cancerous cells’. 

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

Ms Greville (pictured) 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

In October 2020, the court has heard, Ms Greville told Giggs she had a smear test which showed ‘cancerous cells’ instead of revealing that she had her contraceptive coil removed.

Ms Greville messaged Giggs at the time: ‘They can’t get it all in one go so need to go back Tuesday.’

In evidence, Ms Greville admitted she lied and that she wanted the ex-United footballer ‘off my back’, so made up the cancer claim so he would not have sex with her.

Ms Greville denied she was planning to get pregnant with Giggs. Asked about the cancer explanation, Giggs told Mr Daw: ‘I was just obviously worried that Kate was OK.’

Mr Daw asked: ‘Did she tell you about that time the real reason she was going to the hospital appointment, which was to have her contraceptive coil removed?’ ‘No, she did not,’ said Giggs.

Mr Daw said: ‘From that point onwards up to November 1 did you continue to have unprotected sex?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Giggs was later put under cross-examination by prosecutor Peter Wright QC.

Mr Wright asked Giggs about a text exchange between him and Ms Greville after the PR executive had accused him of cheating.

In one exchange, Giggs wrote to Greville: ‘Kate, you didn’t catch me in bed with anyone. I sent a few drunken texts.’

Peter Wright QC said: ‘Was this you trying to minimise what you were up to?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Mr Wright went on: ‘And to cause her to doubt herself?’ ‘No,’ said Giggs.

Giggs agreed this exchange arose from Kate Greville discovering the contents of his phone.

Mr Wright asked: ‘You had been in contact with a number of women, hadn’t you?’ ‘Two,’ said Giggs.

Mr Wright continued to read from the message trail. Giggs wrote: ‘Chill babe. Best night I have had in the pub.’

Mr Wright said: ‘That is because you were not able to communicate with Kate because you had been blocked.’ ‘Yes,’ said Giggs.

Giggs went on to message: ‘Wish I had now cheated’, to which Kate Greville replied: ‘You are vile. Go to hell you absolute skank.’

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.

Mr Wright went on to repeat a list of accusations Kate Greville made to him in the message and asked if he agreed with her descriptions of him.

Mr Wright said: ‘You are a liar.’ ‘Yes,’ said Giggs. Mr Wright said: ‘You are a cheat.’ ‘Yes,’ said Giggs. Mr Wright said: ‘You are a narcissist.’ ‘No,’ said Giggs.

The prosecutor continued: ‘You are a manipulator.’ Giggs said: ‘No.’ Mr Wright said: ‘You are controlling.’ ‘No,’ repeated Giggs. 

Mr Wright said: ‘You are aggressive.’ Giggs said: ‘No.’ Mr Wright said: ‘You are violent.’ ‘No,’ said Giggs.

Mr Wright said: ‘You would play with her emotions, wouldn’t you?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’

Mr Wright referred to an exchange in March 2018 when Giggs blocked Ms Greville on messages and later wrote: ‘I messaged you and saw you online, and you didn’t reply.’

Mr Wright asked Giggs: ‘Are you monitoring what she is up to?’ Giggs said: ‘Yes.’ ‘Why?’ asked Mr Wright. Giggs replied: ‘I don’t know.’

Mr Wright said: ‘I’m going to suggest it was second nature.’ Later Giggs messaged Kate Greville: ‘I’m sorry. Just thought you were drunk.’

Mr Wright asked him: ‘That’s another one of the levers you would pull, isn’t it?’ ‘Yes, said Giggs.

He read another exchange from 2019 in which Giggs messaged: ‘Apologise. Up to something. Tick tock.’ The next day he wrote: ‘Wanting to wind you up.’

Mr Wright asked: ‘You wanted to wind her up, is that the position?’ ‘Yes,’ said Giggs.

Mr Wright said: ‘Or is that you wanted to control her even when you were not physically in the same room, tick tock?’ ‘No,’ said Giggs.

Giggs was also pressed on a series of messages he sent to Ms Greville calling her a ‘c***’

He admitted it was a ‘deeply offensive word’ and that it would cause distress to Ms Greville.

The prosecutor told him: ‘You deliberately chose it as a term of abuse to a ‘woman who was in a relationship with you, who you professed to love and a woman you had treated terribly.’

In another message Giggs had called Ms Greville a ‘horrible, horrible c***. Same as Stacey. Exactly the same.’

Giggs was accused of deliberately calling Ms Greville by the name of his ex-wife in Dubai, saying: ‘It was no slip of the tongue when you were in Dubai.

‘You knew that it would cut her to the quick’

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.

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.