“It’s time to pay the price” as the truth has caught up with the former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs, jurors at his trial were told on Monday.
Giggs, 48, is on trial over allegations he assaulted his ex-girlfriend Kate Greville, 38, causing her actual bodily harm, and of controlling or coercing her during their relationship between August 2017 and November 2020. He denies the allegations.
He also denies assaulting the PR executive’s 26-year-old sister, Emma, in the same incident at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on November 1, 2020.
There were “two very different Ryan Giggs”, prosecutor Peter Wright QC said in his closing speech at Manchester Crown Court.
“The one who is exposed for public consumption and the Ryan Giggs who exists on occasion behind closed doors,” he said.
Mr Wright invited the jury of seven women and five men to conclude the accused is “not a thing of unalloyed beauty but when the mask slips”, is the person capable of the charges he faces.
“This case is about abuse of power of a man over another human being," Mr Wright said.
“It’s actually a tale which is as old as the hills.
“It is about a man who thinks, or thought, he could do whatever he liked in respect of his treatment of Kate Greville and that he could get away with it because the sad history of this relationship revealed that his excesses were endured by her, excused and kept private.
“But all that changed on the night of November 1 when the basis upon which he operated disintegrated before his very eyes and the public persona of Ryan Giggs was exposed to public scrutiny. When the woman he had controlled or coerced in their lengthy, fractious and volatile relationship had the courage to stand up to him. When later his messages in all their ugly detail were exposed to a wider audience than that was intended and the intended target.”
Ryan Giggs through the years as he calls it a career - in pictures
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Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson shows off his Manager of the Year trophy alongside Ryan Giggs, recipient of the Young Eagle of the Year. -
Ryan Giggs runs between Eisa Rashed (L) and Amer Abdulrahman during the London 2012 Olympic Games men's football match between Britain and the UAE at Wembley Stadium in London. AFP -
Giggs is pursued by Liverpool's Dominic Matteo. Photo: RTRUWT -
David Moyes speaks to Giggs during a training session. AFP -
Giggs is challenged by Nigel de Jong of Manchester City in 2010. Getty Images -
Giggs celebrates after Manchester United beat Blackburn in 2011. Reuters -
Giggs on the ball against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final replay on April 14, 1999, when h scored one of his most memorable goals. Photo: Action Images -
Giggs celebrates with Gary Neville after winning the Premier League in 2008. Reuters -
Giggs celebrates with teammates as they lift the Premier League trophy in 2008. Reuters -
Giggs in the dugout during his brief spell as Manchester United manager, against Norwich City at Old Trafford in April 2014. AFP
Giggs’ expressions of affection across more than 19,000 messages exchanged between the former couple, enough to fill 56 lever arch files, were “utterly hollow”, it was claimed.
“The messages in this case, all of them, when contextualised, tell their own sorry tale of emotional manipulation, physical excess and control and coercion,” Mr Wright said.
“The reality is the truth has caught up with him (Giggs) and now it’s time. It’s time to pay the price.
“Let's just consider what Kate Greville was prepared to do.
“She had the courage not only on the night, but later in the crucible of the witness box to speak up.
“To reveal in all its deeply embarrassing detail what he had done and said to her in the period of their relationship.
“You may think that speaking up was, for her, cathartic.
“The pent-up emotions of what he had said or done were to finally spill out.
“Scheming? Manipulative? Devious?
“Or a previously emotionally brittle vulnerable woman, previously malleable to this man, who had eventually reached her breaking point and was now empowered and able to speak out.”
Ex-Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs pleads not guilty to assault charges - video
Mr Wright said a “microcosm of the entire case” could be heard in the initial stages of the first 999 call to police from Emma Greville on the evening of November 1.
“In that microcosm, what we hear is unlawful acts of violence by the defendant and an attempt by him to abdicate any responsibility on his part for what he has done by blaming another or the other. The one on the receiving end of his excesses and when that fails emotional blackmail as a last resort," he said.
“An attempt to avoid the consequences.
“The problem for Ryan Giggs is he had gone too far once too often to someone who was impervious to his pleading and threats.
“And he had done it to Kate, who was fortified by her recently found resolve, and so each of them were then equipped to stand up to him, to disclose what he had done and what he was capable of.
“Eventually it had caught up with him … and he has no one else to blame for it but himself.”
