Giggs tells court he had no big arguments with exon August 17, 2022 at 12:13 pm

Ryan Giggs has told a court it was a “really happy time” when his now ex-girlfriend moved into his home, but she has described it as “utter hell”.

The former Manchester United star and Wales manager, 48, is accused of using controlling and coercive behaviour and assaulting Kate Greville, 36.

Mr Giggs is also charged with causing her actual bodily harm, and of the common assault of her younger sister, Emma Greville, 26.

He denies all charges.

Manchester Crown Court heard 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.

His barrister, Chris Daw, QC asked about Ms Greville describing lockdown as “hell” during her evidence.

“It was a really happy time from my perspective,” said Mr Giggs, adding that they would “bicker” but had “no big arguments”.

Asked whether he was “particularly keen on dishwasher loading techniques”, Mr 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,” he said.

“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’.”

He was asked about an incident at the Stafford Hotel in London in December 2019 in which Ms Greville has claimed 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 said that Ms Greville had been unhappy and accused him of flirting with a female sports presenter as they were in the capital with a group for his agent’s Christmas party.

He left them at Winter Wonderland event in Hyde Park on his own, and went to a nightclub where the whole group had planned to go later.

When Ms Greville arrived there, the couple did not talk.

Mr Giggs said: “I could see Kate and a male sports presenter… they were dancing, holding hands and looking in each other’s eyes.”

He told the court he left and went back to the hotel, where Ms Greville followed about an hour later.

He described how they had “a row” over her behaviour in the nightclub and he told her to sleep on the sofa, throwing her hold-all onto the bed.

Mr Daw asked if he did anything physical to her, to which he replied he did not.

He said the argument then fizzled out.

“We more or less made up that evening.”

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

They met Ms Greville’s friend Katie Harvey for lunch at the Burj Al Arab hotel, and Mr Giggs said a row broke out in the taxi as they travelled back to their hotel after the couple had “been drinking rosé all afternoon”.

He said with “a slip of the tongue”, he called her by his ex-wife’s name Stacey, and his barrister asked if that had been deliberate on his part, to which he replied it was not.

A row escalated and Mr Giggs said he asked her to leave their hotel, before changing his mind, and asked her not to leave as it was just a “stupid argument”.

However, Ms Greville did leave and remained in Dubai with friends.

“I don’t remember any physical interaction,” he said, adding that afterwards, while travelling home alone, he felt “gutted… after such an amazing holiday… that it would end like this”.

Mr Daw also asked Mr Giggs whether he had ever been sent off in the more than 1,000 matches he played in his 24-year career.

Mr Giggs replied: “Once for Wales. It was for two bookable offences,” and added it was “part and parcel” of being a footballer to be wound up and verbally abused on the pitch.

Mr Daw then asked him if he had reacted to any of that with violence on any occasion, to which he replied “no”.

Mr Giggs was also about the argument that started on November 1 2020 – the night the former footballer is alleged to have headbutted Kate Greville.

He 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?'”

Mr 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.”

He said the email was from 2014 and it was a woman he used to work with.

Mr 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?”

Mr Giggs replied: “Yes.”

Mr Daw said: “On other occasions did she accuse you of things where nothing had happened?”

Mr Giggs replied: “Yes.”

Speaking of the hotel incident, Mr Daw said: “Was this one in the latter category?”

Mr Giggs said: “Yes.”

Mr 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.

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

The trial continues.