'Red flags' seen in Ryan Giggs' behaviour, trial told

A woman who claims ex-Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs controlled her in their relationship thought he was her "soulmate" but saw early "red flags", a court has heard.

PR executive Kate Greville, aged 36, told detectives it was "almost like was he was two people" during their relationship.

Ms Greville was interviewed by police weeks after she alleged he headbutted her in November 2020.

Both were married when their affair started, she said, and she was unhappy in a controlling relationship with her husband.

"He would tell me about his marriage and he was not happy, I would talk about mine. Things developed from there and we started to have an affair. I left my husband two months later," she said.

"He was like a best friend, a soul mate, he was the one to save me from that marriage. It was more than a sexual thing.

"It was like he was my best friend, but there were definite red flags."

She said Mr Giggs told her he needed more time to end his marriage with wife Stacey.

Eventually she gave him an ultimatum, but nothing changed and she decided to move to Abu Dhabi to "get away from him".

The prosecution at Manchester Crown Court said that Mr Giggs was idolised for his skills on the pitch, but behind his public persona had an "uglier and more sinister side".

Jurors were told the 48-year-old's private life involved a "litany of abuse, both physical and psychological, of a woman he professed to love".

Mr Giggs denies using controlling and coercive behaviour against Ms Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.

He has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting her, causing her actual bodily harm, and of the common assault of her younger sister, Emma Greville, at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on 1 November, 2020.

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