Ryan Giggs breaks down in tears as he calls night in jail "worst of my life"

Ryan Giggs broke down in tears in the witness box as he described the night he spent in jail following his arrest as "the worst experience of my life".

Giggs, giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court, said he was taken to Pendleton police station following his arrest, on suspicion of assaulting his former partner, Kate Greville, on November 1 2020.

Asked by Chris Daw QC how he engaged with the police when they arrived at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, Giggs said: "Just answered their questions."

Asked about his emotional state at the time, he said: "I was scared. I'd never been in that position before, so scared."

Giggs told the jury that he was arrested, taken to the police station and spent the night in a cell. He then started crying as he said it was the "worst experience of my life".

Giggs told the court he got "hardly any" sleep that night and spoke to a solicitor for the first time the next day.

Mr Daw asked: "Do you accept you are a man with many faults and flaws?"

"Yes," said Giggs.

Mr Daw said: "Is one of those flaws a propensity to commit violence against women?"

Giggs replied: "No."

Mr Daw said: "Is one of those flaws at the age of 48 a propensity to control and coerce women in your relationships?"

Giggs repeated: "No."

Giggs then agreed with Peter Wright QC, cross-examining, there was a "world of difference" between how someone may behave in their personal life and how they may behave in their professional life.

But he disagreed when Mr Wright said: "The reality here, isn't it, that there is a very different side to Ryan Giggs?"

"No" replied Giggs.

Mr Wright followed up: "There is the Ryan Giggs the public knows, and there is the Ryan Giggs that you know, isn't there?"

"No," said Giggs.

The barrister asked the defendant if he would describe what the jury heard on the 999 call made on the night of November 1 as the "angry Ryan Giggs".

"No," said Giggs.

Mr Wright asked: "What would you describe it as?" Giggs said: "Scared."

Mr Wright said: "Scared of what?" Giggs said: "Of the police being called."

Mr Wright continued: "You were not scared of being assaulted by a woman, or two women, in the house?" Giggs replied: "No".

Mr Wright said: "Your state of being scared was because the police were on their way?" Giggs said: "Yes."

"And you were the reason that they were on their way, weren't you?" offered Mr Wright. "No", said Giggs.

Mr Wright said: "So, the reason they were on their way was because of what the girls had done, was it?" Again, Giggs said "no".

Mr Wright said: "You realised that the police were on their way because of what you had done, didn't you?"

"No," said Giggs.

Earlier, Giggs had been asked about the argument on November 1 2020 - the night he is alleged to have headbutted Kate Greville.

Giggs said that after an argument at a hotel in which he had denied being "aggressive", he returned to his house in Worsley, Greater Manchester, and when he got there he saw the dog Mac's cage was in the boot of his other car, a Mercedes.

He told jurors he took the cage out of the car, as well as some of the dog's blankets and toys, but nothing that was not dog-related.

"I quickly worked out they were trying to take Mac," he said.

Asked by Chris Daw QC why he did not want them to take Mac, Giggs replied: "He's my dog. I told them (Ms Greville and her sister Emma) they are not taking Mac, he's my dog, he lives here, and I wanted them to leave."

Giggs said he then started moving some of Ms Greville's bags and taking them to the end of the drive.

Giggs told the jury: "They were just not leaving. Emma was upset. Kate was messing around with Mac. I said I would call the police… just to scare them into going. I wanted to let them know I wanted them to go and I was serious.

"I couldn't find my phone. I asked Kate 'have you got my phone?' and she replied 'no'."

Mr Daw asked: "Did you believe her?" Giggs replied: "No. I retraced my tracks and I couldn't find it."

Giggs put his slippers on and walked to his next-door neighbour to ask for her assistance, the court heard. He said he was "distressed" and "frustrated" that the two women were not leaving. He said he did not take his neighbour's advice to stay with her or lock himself in one of his bedrooms.

Giggs told the court: "I was well within my rights to ask the girls to leave the house."

He returned inside and tried to grab Ms Greville's phone from her hand as she stood in the hallway, he said.

Giggs said: "I was frustrated that Kate would not give me my phone back so I tried to get her phone. As I went to grab the phone I'm facing the cloakroom door and Kate has her back to that door. We both slipped on the bags and I fell on Kate into the cloakroom."

Mr Daw asked: "Was that deliberate on your part?"

Giggs said: "No, we just totally lost balance because we slipped on the shopping bags. My head was around her waist height. Then Kate just proceeded to kicking me in the head."

Mr Daw asked: "Did you do anything physical?"

Giggs replied: "No, as soon as we were on the floor I was just protecting my head. After these six, seven kicks to the head, I just got up and we went our separate ways."

Giggs said he did not see Emma Greville when the struggle took place. Mr Daw asked: "Did you deliberately elbow Emma?", and Giggs replied: "No."

The former footballer said he later found his phone on a window sill near the front door.

Mr Daw asked: "Were they (the sisters) showing signs they were willing to leave?" Giggs replied: "Not really, no. Mac was still running about."

He said he later discovered Kate Greville's phone in the utility room and put it in his trouser pocket, adding: "It was tit for tat. If she was going to take my phone, I was going to take her phone." He said he moved to the kitchen where Ms Greville could see her phone was in his pocket.

Giggs said: "She said she wanted her phone back and I said I was not giving it back. Stupidly I kept on to her phone. Then Kate sort of grabbed my wrist while my hand was in my pocket and led me to the fridge."

Giggs told the court: "I was not resisting. We went all around the kitchen island."

Mr Daw asked: "How far did the two of you get around the island?"

Giggs replied: "All the way round up to the dining room table and chairs. Kate had then stopped because her back was against the chair and table. The tugging just got a little bit more aggressive… we were facing each other, it was sort of tug-of-war and we then clashed heads. It happened really quickly. I felt my lips against hers."

Mr Daw asked: "What was her reaction?"

Giggs said: "I could see quite clearly she had been hurt. She just fell backwards, more towards the table."

Mr Daw asked: "Who was becoming more aggressive?"

Giggs said: "Kate got more aggressive because she was not getting any joy from getting my wrist from my pocket."

Mr Daw asked: "Did she (Kate Greville) say anything at that point?" Giggs said: "No."

Mr Daw said: "Did she say anything after that to say what had happened?"

Giggs replied: "She accused me of hitting her in the face. She accused me of headbutting her."

Mr Daw asked: "Did you at any stage put your hands on Kate's shoulders and forcefully and deliberately headbutt her in the face?" Giggs said: "No, I did not."

Mr Daw said: "Would you ever do such a thing?" Giggs replied: "No".

Emma Greville then dialled 999, the court heard.

Mr Daw asked Giggs how he felt about the implications of being accused in this way.

Giggs said: "Confused, scared. Because it now looked like a situation that was completely different. I was scared."

Giggs, 48, is accused of assaulting Greville and her younger sister, Emma, at his home in Worsley, north-west Manchester on November 1, 2020, with a further charge relating to controlling and coercive behaviour towards Kate Greville between 2017 and November 2020. He denies all charges.

Giggs entered the witness box for his second day of evidence over allegations of assault and controlling behaviour.

The trial continues.