Wednesday 10 August 2022 03:49 PM Ryan Giggs's ex-girlfriend 'lost her phone in a river as she rescued her dog' trends now

Ryan Giggs's ex-girlfriend today told a court how she 'dropped her phone into a river' and had her second phone pinched by muggers after being asked to share it with the police probing her assault claims.

Under-cross examination from Giggs's lawyers in the footballer's domestic assault trial, Kate Greville, 36, today claimed she was attempting to rescue her dog from the water when she lost hold of her iPhone.

She also claimed that a second phone was stolen from her hands by a 'man on a bike' as she walked along a street in Manchester - an incident she said left her ‘very distraught’.

With both phones gone, a court heard that police asked if they could instead access her iCloud account and she initially agreed. However she later withdrew her consent, because she was 'scared' that the contents of the iCloud could 'damage' her career.

Jurors were told Ms Greville later allowed police access to a 'limited amount of information' from her phone. But asked by Giggs' lawyer, Chris Daw QC, if she had deleted anything 'relevant' in that period, she confirmed she had deleted 'some' messages to an ex-colleague.

It comes as the court heard how Giggs's daughter discovered her father's affair with Ms Greville after finding a digital Valentines Card sent to the soccer ace. Liberty Giggs found the Valentines message on her father's phone in February 2018.

Ms Greville had sent the message and said: 'Happy Valentine’s Day baby. Three years ago I didn’t think I could be more proud of you. You are an inspiration.'

Cross-examining, Mr Dawsaid that Giggs' daughter 'put two and two together' and realised that her father had started seeing Ms Greville in 2015 when he was still with Stacey, her mother.

Mr Daw QC said Giggs' daughter was 'very upset' Ms Greville said she was unaware at the time that the teenager had found the Valentines message and said she first became aware 'around a year later.'

It comes as the footballer's former lawyers today claimed how bruises on the arm of Ryan Giggs's ex-girlfriend were caused by the pair engaging in 'rough sex' and not from an assault.

Jurors in the former-Manchester United star's domestic assault trial had previously been told about an incident in Dubai in 2017 in which Giggs is accused of throwing ex-partner Kate Greville naked out of a hotel room.

They had also been told how a friend of Ms Greville had noticed bruises on her arms following the alleged assault, which at the time she had dismissed as 'sex bruises'.

Following an alleged assault in November 2020, in which Giggs is facing an assault charge, Ms Greville later told the police the marks in Dubai were the result of an assault. 

However, cross-examining the PR executive during Giggs' trial at Manchester Crown Court today, lawyers for the former Wales midfielder suggested that the bruises were actually caused by the pair having 'rough sex'. 

Questioning Ms Greville, Chris Daw QC, representing the footballer, asked why she had not told her friend and business partner Elsa Roodt about an assault when asked.

Ms Greville, sat behind a curtain shielded from Giggs and the public gallery, said: 'I was embarrassed and I didn't want to admit it.'

Mr Daw said: 'It was a bruise caused by rough sex that the two of you enjoyed a lot.' Ms Greville said: 'That bruise was not caused by rough sex.'

The court also heard how a few days after the alleged Dubai incident Ms Greville messaged a photograph of herself to Giggs.

The message read: 'Tan is coming along nicely. My sex bruise is coming along nicely too!!'

Mr Daw added: 'The truth of it is you did from time to time get bruises from sex.' Ms Greville said: 'Not that I recall.'

Confirming that she had not reported the alleged assault to police in Dubai, she said: 'No, I didn’t admit to the assault because I was embarrassed but I told Elsa we had argued. 

'I was later to work, visibly shaken and very upset which was evident that day. I tried to play down the bruising on my arm.'

Digging deeper into the pair's sex life, Mr Daw also told the court that Giggs had purchased and shared images of sex toys, including a paddle and handcuffs from lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.

Mr Daw said his client had bought the sex toys after Ms Greville had asked him to be 'more assertive' in the bedroom. He read out messages between the pair in which Ms Greville said she 'wanted it to hurt'.

It comes as jurors yesterday heard evidence from Ms Greville, who said Giggs had told her that she 'did not deserve to be a parent' during a blazing row between the pair.

She also told the court how the ex-Manchester united star 'deliberately headbutted' her during a row at his £1.7million mansion in Worsley in November 2020.

Ms Greville yesterday broke down in tears as she said of the former Wales manager: 'He came at me from nowhere and headbutted me in my face. I fell backwards, my lip instantly swelled. I put my hands over my mouth and I could taste the blood.'

Giggs is in on trial accused of controlling and coercive behaviour against his ex-girlfriend between August 2017 and November 2020.

He is also charged with assaulting Ms Greville and her sister Emma. He denies all charges against him and is on trial at Manchester Crown Court.

On Day 2 of evidence at Ryan Giggs' trial, the court heard evidence from his former girlfriend Ms Greville, who said:

It comes as Ms Greville today batted off suggestions from the footballer's legal team that was a 'gold digger', after it was revealed she told a friend she was 'not going to walk away' from their 'violent' relationship 'with nothing'.

Kate Greville, 36, today told jurors in the domestic assault trial that she was initially attracted to Giggs 'not because of his money and not because he was a footballer' but because he was 'very inspiring'.

In cross examination by the former Manchester United star's lawyer, Chris Daw QC, Ms Greville was asked: 'Did you tell your friend you weren't going to walk away from Mr Giggs with nothing?'

Ms Greville confirmed: 'Yes.' However the PR executive said she was not after compensation from the former Wales midfielder. Asked if she was seeking damages from the 48-year-old, she said: 'Absolutely not.' 

Ms Greville, 36, also told the court how she and Giggs were both still married when the affair started, but, 'if anything was put off by the fact that he was a footballer.'

The barrister asked her: 'Did Ryan's public profile and wealth have anything to do with your interest in him?

Ms Greville said: 'He was very inspiring, I looked up to him in terms of a business sense, who had worked hard…' 

'He was more attractive because he was successful and had done well for himself, not because of his money and not because he was a footballer, if anything that put me off, him being a footballer.'

She admitted to having sex with the former Manchester United star two months before leaving her husband, who she alleged in court was 'controlling'.

Ms Greville claimed initially her and Giggs' relationship had been 'amazing', but had then deteriorated before becoming 'relentlessly awful' while they lived together during the Covid pandemic.

She said Giggs preyed on her 'vulnerability' and damaged relations with her friends and family and that she became 'a slave to his every need and every demand'.

Ms Greville told the court Giggs would sometimes show her affection but was 'aggressive' a lot of the time and would sometimes use violence against her.

'He damaged relationships with my friends and isolated me from certain people. He had a negative impact on relations with my family. ' 

Asked about her claims of violence against her, Ms Greville, who today told the court she is now the mother of 12-week baby with her new partner, said: 'It wasn't consistent violence, he wasn't regularly violent but there were times in our relationship when he was violent.'

She was also asked if she had looked up the term coercive control during the pair's relationship and said: 'I'm really into psychology when Ryan was making me feel like I was going crazy, paranoid, I googled how I was feeling. The thing that came up was "narcissistic personality disorder" and what I was experiencing was exactly the same as that. '

Today Ms Greville, who yesterday gave her evidence to jury members, faced prosecution by Giggs' lawyer, Chris Daw QC. 

He began by asking Ms Greville about the pair's relationship. She responded: 'He damaged relationships with my friends and isolated me from certain people. He had a negative impact on relations with my family. '

Asked about the violent incidents, she said: 'It wasn’t consistent violence, he wasn’t regularly violent but there were times in our relationship when he was violent.'

Mr Daw QC asked if she was seeking 'a large sum of compensation' and she replied: 'Absolutely not '

She was asked if she had looked up the term coercive control and said: 'I’m really into psychology when Ryan was making me feel like I was going crazy, paranoid, I googled how I was feeling. 

'The thing that came up was "narcissistic personality disorder" and what I was experiencing was exactly the same as that.' 

The court also heard how Ms Greville seduced Giggs with a provocative photo of herself before their relationship began.

Ms Greville and Giggs were described as 'prolific messagers' by his QC who said there were 160 pages of messages between the former couple in the case which were a 'tiny fraction' of the messages actually sent. Ms Greville agreed.

Referring to messages sent between the pair in the summer of 2017, the QC brought up a message of photo of Ms Greville sent Giggs of her wearing a crop top and underwear.

Giggs messaged: 'Amazing pout too!!X'

Ms Greville messaged: 'Takes me back to your first abs picture, and I was like wow I’m in love.'

She then messaged: 'It was so f***** naughty of me to send that picture.'

Giggs messaged: 'I know, but you knew what you was doing.' Ms Greville messaged: 'I knew exactly what I was doing.'

The barrister asked Ms Greville if she knew what she was doing.

The witness responded: 'I knew as soon as I got that signed shirt what would happen, this would be the start of a relationship. I did not get the signed shirt for a month.'

Mr Daw referred to the picture as 'provocative'. Ms Greville, who had earlier suggested Giggs had taken advantage of her 'vulnerability' to get her into a relationship, said: 'I knew showing a picture of me with my abs in my gym kit he would like it

She added: 'I absolutely played a part in it, I never said I didn’t. 

'He definitely pushed it and he made me aware he was interested. I was in an awful relationship with my husband which was awful. He [Mr Giggs] showed me attention and it was flattering. It felt like escapism, of course I knew what I was doing.”

She said she thought Giggs was her 'knight in shining armour” and was her 'soulmate' at the time.

However Ms Greville also told the court how the pair's relationship soured. She said violence by Giggs was 'not regular' and he would use aggression more as a form of control.

Mr Daw asked: 'Do you say he undermined your confidence, your self-esteem and was disparaging to you generally in those ways?'

She said: 'Yes, on the whole he was, but on the other side it was like two extremes. Other times he would give me confidence.

'He was not constantly awful, not constantly horrible. It was hot and cold. Two different people. The result of his behaviour ... undermined my self-confidence.'

She said he had also undermined and damaged her business.

The court heard Ms Greville gave a statement the day before the start of the trial in which she said she had felt like 'a slave' to the defendant.

She said: 'That is what it felt like. When Ryan said do something, I would do it.

'There was resistance sometimes but he made me feel like I had to do what he said, otherwise there would be consequences.'

However Giggs' barrister said that the footballer's messages to Ms Greville over the course of their troubled relationship weren't always nasty.

Ms Greville conceded that for the first four-and-a-half years their relationship was romantic, but that his behaviour towards her changed in around 2018 when she returned to Manchester from Dubai where she had been working.

He said: 'Mr Giggs used appalling language, insulting and nasty words towards you. But that wasn’t typical of your relationship.

Ms Greville said: 'Not at the beginning but over time it got worse.' Mr Daw said: 'There were only a handful of conversations when it got that bad.'

Ms Greville said: 'Yes but only on messages, you weren’t privy to telephone conversations.' Mr Daw said: 'Do you agree the majority of the time he was kind and loving towards you?'

Ms Greville said: 'At the beginning yes. For four-and-a-half years he was nice, for one-and-a-half years he wasn’t. By the end of the relationship it was relentlessly awful. 

'The time it really ramped up and it was awful was during Covid when we were living together. When I returned back to Manchester (January 2018) that’s when he turned and there was a significant change in his behaviour.'

The barrister suggested the vast majority of the messages were not like those described.

Ms Greville said: 'Yes they were, he hadn’t written it down before. He was, he just did it verbally. He sent it in emails because he couldn’t do it verbally and I was standing up for myself.'

Ms Greville's claims that Giggs used to give her the 'silent treatment' were addressed by the star's barrister.

Ms Greville said: 'He was speaking to me but it wasn’t the same. He was off with me and not replying to messages. You see he makes excuses as to why he’s not replying and I’m saying "Do you still want this?" because he was acting very differently.'

She was asked about messages she sent to Giggs in which she told him she 'loved him' and 'missed him'.

Ms Greville said: 'Ryan had this way of turning things on me and it was my fault so I felt I had to be overly loving to him because he would make me insecure and worried about the relationship so I would overcompensate to make things ok.'

Giggs' barrister said the real problem in their relationship was that the former footballer couldn't remain faithful.

Ms Greville replied: 'It was part of the problem, it created issues but it wasn’t the whole problem. There was way more to it than that.'

The barrister said Ms Greville was asking the jury to ignore the messages because there were telephone conversations that could not be produced in evidence.

Ms Greville broke down in tears when the barrister said to her: 'What you’re saying now is a complete pack of lies.'

The PR executive was also asked about the incident in Dubai, where she claimed she was locked out of a hotel room naked.

He said the argument began when Ms Greville accused Giggs of messaging another woman, but he told her he was messaging his daughter.

The barrister said Ms Greville lived in Dubai at the time and had friends locally. 'When you got back to the room Ryan asked you to leave,' said the barrister.

Ms Greville said: 'No we got into bed, I said something he didn’t like and he flipped.'

'He asked you to go,' said the barrister. Ms Greville said: 'After he dragged my arm naked out of the door.'

But the barrister said: 'I’m going to suggest that didn’t happen. He told you he didn’t want to be with you that night.”

Ms Greville said: 'Yes.' Mr Giggs' lawyer said: 'What I suggest is what Ryan did was put your things in suitcase in the corridor and asked you to go.'

Ms Greville said: 'No he threw the suitcase, it was opened and all my clothes... I was completely naked and didn’t want to stand outside the room.'

The QC said this was not true and 'manufactured'. He added: 'I suggest there was no deliberate assault on you at all.'

Ms Greville said: 'He did, he grabbed my wrist and caused bruising.”

Refuting the barrister's suggestion that Giggs tried to take her hand off his wrist, she went on: 'He dragged me out of bed, across the room, in the lounge/suite and threw my things in the corridor.'

Confirming that she had not reported the alleged assault to police in Dubai, she said: 'No, I didn’t admit to the assault because I was embarrassed but I told Elsa we had argued. I was later to work, visibly shaken and very upset which was evident that day. I tried to play down the bruising on my arm.'

Yesterday the court was played Ms Greville's 105 minute interview with detectives in November 2020 following the row, in which Giggs is also accused of having assaulted Ms Greville's sister, Emma.

The court also heard how Giggs had engaged in 'full-on' affairs with eight women during 'toxic' six-year on-off relationship with Ms Greville.

The PR executive, who said the pair's early relationship was like 'like a love story from the movies', told jurors how she attempted to leave the former Manchester United and Wales star over his alleged flings and 'controlling' behaviour.