Ryan Giggs deliberately headbutted ex-girlfriend, court told

Giggs is accused of using controlling and coercive behavior against ex-girlfriend Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020. He is also charged with assaulting her younger sister, Emma Greville, at his home on November 1, 2020.

Giggs was first arrested in the case and released on bail in November 2020. Giggs has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyer said the allegations were “based on distortion, exaggeration, and lies.”

Former

star resigned in June as manager of the

following a period of leave since November 2020.

Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor Peter Wright QC said of the defendant:

"He was idolized 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.

"Eventually, after years of turbulence, when the scales fell from her eyes, she realized she needed to remove herself from his sphere of influence.”

Wright said this decision to break away led to the incident in which Giggs is said to have lost control that evening and headbutted Greville.

He said:

"She knew that the defendant had once again been cheating on her.

"During the evening the defendant's behavior towards her led to her making that decision and making 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.”

In the altercation that followed, in which Greville took Giggs's phone as a bargaining chip and they grappled together on the floor before Greville's sister stepped in.

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 as 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.”

Giggs' defense, Chris Daw QC, said he "never once used unlawful violence against Kate Greville," saying the pair "behaved like squabbling children."

He said that Giggs acknowledged there was "minor and accidental contact" during a tussle over a mobile phone but denied there was a deliberate head-butt and said it was "not remotely a criminal assault."

The trial is expected to last about 10 days.

Follow 

for the