The ex-girlfriend of former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs fled to Abu Dhabi to escape his alleged abuse, a court in the UK has heard.
Kate Greville, 36, claims Giggs, 48, controlled her, assaulted her and "gaslighted" her in their relationship which escalated to the point where she felt she needed to leave Britain.
The former Wales manager is on trial at Manchester Crown Court on charges of attacking and coercively controlling his ex and assaulting her sister. He denies all charges.
Ms Greville said she believed the ex-footballer was her “soulmate” but early in the relationship noticed “red flags”, and that he cheated on her with eight women.
Their relationship began as an affair while they both were married and within two months Ms Greville had left her husband. She claimed Mr Giggs promised to also leave his wife Stacey, with whom he has two children. When the sportsman dragged his heels Ms Greville gave him an ultimatum, but nothing changed and she decided to move to Abu Dhabi to “get away from him”.
She said Mr Giggs told her he had moved out of his marital home and was living with his mother.
“Then I found out he had not,” she said in a police interview shown in court. “That went on for about nine months and then I decided he is not going to split up with Stacey, that is not happening. I went to live in Abu Dhabi to get away from him.”
Ms Greville worked for a PR firm employed by Giggs’ businesses and said she was worried for her job as the former footballer had implied her role could be in jeopardy, and she said he threatened to tell her boss about their secret affair.
Rumours began at her workplace about their relationship but she lied about it because she was “ashamed I was seeing a married man”.
“I made the decision to leave to Abu Dhabi and people would talk about it at work and my boss sat me down and asked me outright if anything was going on,” Ms Greville said.
“It was affecting my work, it wasn’t good for me.”
At one point during their volatile relationship, Ms Greville stopped speaking to Mr Giggs and ignored his calls and messages.
Ms Greville told police that he turned up at her apartment but she ignored him again.
He then shouted allegations that she had someone in there with her, Ms Greville said.
The affair became public in May 2016, the court heard, a turning point which Ms Greville described as “horrendous” as she was “hounded” by paparazzi.
It continued to be an on-off relationship, with periods of her refusing to speak to him.
“It was literally like I was addicted to him. I couldn’t get him out of my head.”
Giggs flew to Dubai and tried to convince Ms Greville to take him back. He said to her “let’s start a family, you are the only person I want to be with”, she said.
“Then he went back home and I found out he was dating another girl. I was absolutely devastated,” she said.
He denied he had cheated on her and she “gave him another chance” as he urged her to move back to Manchester with him and have a baby.
“It was like he was almost two people,” she said. “It was like ‘is he a good person? Is he a bad person?’
“I started to get horrendous anxiety.”
She described having arguments with him, including one in which he allegedly kicked her out of a hotel room, leaving her stranded naked in a corridor.
Giggs “flipped”, she said, grabbed her by the wrists “hard” and “literally dragged” her naked body across the floor before he threw her belongings into the corridor.
Ms Greville said she was “left humiliated and embarrassed” as she found herself with no clothes on in the hallway.
When she got back into bed he did not speak to her, she said.
She said: “That was the first time he was aggressive to me.”
While on holiday in Dubai, Ms Greville said she was lying on a sun lounger when she received an anonymous email containing a naked photo of Giggs with a married woman.
“It was not a picture of his head, but it was him,” she said. “Your whole body goes into shock. That was the first time I realised, ‘Actually maybe he’s not what I think he is.'”
She claimed her ex-boyfriend had “full-on relationships” with eight other women while they were dating, saying she discovered the details on his tablet computer shortly before she decided to leave him.
“The reality of what I had found on that iPad was way worse than I could imagine,” she said. “Eight women he was having affairs with while he was with me. Full-on relationships.”
Giggs is alleged to have headbutted Ms Greville at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on November 1 2020, and elbowed her sister in the jaw in the same incident. He denies all the charges against him.
The trial continues.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
The specs: 2018 Kia Picanto
Price: From Dh39,500
Engine: 1.2L inline four-cylinder
Transmission: Four-speed auto
Power: 86hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 122Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.0L / 100km
SCORES IN BRIEF
New Zealand 153 and 56 for 1 in 22.4 overs at close
Pakistan 227
(Babar 62, Asad 43, Boult 4-54, De Grandhomme 2-30, Patel 2-64)
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Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
