London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

Ryan Giggs trial jury discharged after failing to reach verdict

Ryan Giggs trial jury discharged after failing to reach verdict

CPS will decide whether former footballer should face retrial on charges of assault and controlling behaviour
Ryan Giggs is facing a possible retrial in June next year after a jury failed to reach verdicts on charges of assault and controlling behaviour.

Giggs, 48, had been on trial for four weeks accused of deliberately head-butting his former girlfriend, Kate Greville, and elbowing her younger sister in the face during an argument at his home in Greater Manchester on 1 November 2020.

He was also accused of using coercive and controlling behaviour against Greville, 38, over a period of three years from 2017 to 2020.

But the jury was discharged on Wednesday after failing to reach verdicts during 23 hours of deliberations.

The former Manchester United and Wales footballer had denied all three charges and protested his innocence at Manchester crown court.

Giggs bowed his head as the jury foreman told the judge, Hilary Manley, that there was “no reasonable prospect” of them reaching verdicts if they were given more time.

The Crown Prosecution Service has been given seven days to decide whether to seek a retrial. Any trial would not happen until June next year at the earliest, Manley said.

Giggs made no comment as he left the court, flanked by his legal team, within minutes of the jury being discharged.

His mother, Lynne Johnson, appeared dismayed and shook her head in the public gallery, where she had sat throughout the 16-day trial. Outside court she said her son’s life was still “on hold”.

The former Wales manager, who has spent almost 22 months on bail, was told he will learn next Wednesday whether he will face a second trial.

The trial heard how Giggs was accused of deliberately head-butting Greville after elbowing her younger sister, Emma Greville, in the face during a scuffle over a mobile phone.

The incident at Giggs’s £1.7m home brought to an end a six-year on-off relationship that Greville said became “utter hell” during Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.

Greville, a PR executive, said she became “a slave to his every need” and that Giggs “made me feel like I had to do what he said, otherwise there were consequences”.

The former footballer insisted that he had never been violent to any woman, or used coercive or controlling behaviour against them. His barrister, Chris Daw QC, has said the allegations were based on “distortion, exaggeration and lies”.

Giggs broke down in tears during the trial when he told jurors that spending a night in the police cells was “the worst experience of [his] life”.

He said he was “confused and scared” after being arrested by police after the altercation on 1 November, when he claimed he did not intentionally head-butt Greville but that they “clashed heads”.

Shortly after being sent out to deliberate eight days ago, the jury asked judge Manley whether they could attribute recklessness to the charge of actual bodily harm against Giggs. Manley told jurors that they could not and that they had to be sure the act was intentional in order to find him guilty.

Giggs began his evidence in court by telling jurors that he had not been faithful in any of his relationships with women, including his ex-wife Stacey Giggs. But he said he had never been violent or controlling towards them.

In her summing up of the case, the judge told jurors that Giggs was “not on trial for being serially unfaithful – this is not a court of morals”.

She told the jury they must decide whether the relationship between Giggs and Greville “veered off the rails” because she could not accept his “serial womanising” – and then, as the defence suggested, “exacted her revenge and twisted their routine arguments to a portrait of control, violence and of misery.”

Or was it, as the prosecution suggested, a “dark” relationship in which Giggs “exploited” his power over a “vulnerable” Greville and “lost his self-control and physically attacked” his ex-girlfriend, the judge added.

The ex-footballer’s trial was the most high-profile case of coercive and controlling behaviour brought before a jury since the offence was introduced into criminal law in 2015.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
×