Ryan Giggs: Covid lockdown was hell, ex tells court

Ryan Giggs' trial is expected to last two weeks

Ryan Giggs' ex-girlfriend said living with him during the first Covid lockdown was "utter hell", a court has heard.

The former Manchester United star and Wales manager, 48, is accused of using controlling and coercive behaviour and assaulting Kate Greville.

Mr Giggs is charged with causing her actual bodily harm, and of the common assault of her younger sister, Emma Greville.

He denies all charges.

The pair moved in together after he asked her to live with him in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

Ms Greville said she did not choose to live elsewhere because she "wanted to stay with Ryan... because we had just started the relationship again".

The court heard that during lockdown the couple did online family quizzes, Zoom wine tastings and had Michelin-starred chefs bring in food.

• I was slave to Giggs' demands, ex tells court

• Giggs threw ex out of hotel room naked, court told

• Ryan Giggs headbutted ex-girlfriend - court hears

But Ms Greville said there were arguments, including about a dishwasher.

"He was making me feel like I was stupid, the way I was loading it. I had to do it exactly the way he wanted to do it."

Chris Daw QC, defending Mr Giggs, said: "You suggest in your various accounts that lockdown was a period of living hell."

Ms Greville replied: "I felt like I was losing my mind. I was having panic attacks. It was a horrific time."

The court previously heard that Mr Giggs had "deliberately headbutted" his ex-girlfriend and his private life involved a "litany of abuse, both physical and psychological".

The former Manchester United star is accused of using controlling and coercive behaviour

The court heard on 16 November, 2020, four days before she was interviewed by police about her allegations, an article appeared in The Sun.

There was a photo of her walking her dog and the words, "Living hell: Ryan Giggs's ex spotted with a bruised lip in first outing since Wales manager's assault arrest".

Messages were read from 10 November between Ms Greville and a friend.

The friend said she was going to sell a picture of Ms Greville.

Ms Greville suggested they set up a photo and both get paid. Her friend was keen to do this.

"We could get £5K," said Ms Greville.

Mr Daw asked if she was selling stories to the press about the case.

"It was a picture," Ms Greville said.

It was suggested she would not have returned to Mr Giggs had he been a serial and violent abuser.

Ms Greville said: "He made me believe that he would not do it again and, stupidly, I went back. I am hugely ashamed of that but I did."

Mr Daw questioned Ms Greville about her claims Mr Giggs "effectively isolated you or affected your relationships with friends and family".

She said the way he made her feel meant she did not want to "interact with my friends as much and tell them what was going on". She did not "frequently spend time with my family", but her sister would regularly come to the house.

Mr Daw pointed out a number of photos of Ms Greville on holiday with friends in 2019 and 2020, saying it was a "naked lie" Mr Giggs did anything to stop her seeing them.

Ms Greville replied: "He was creating really difficult relationships with these people".

Ryan Giggs' football career ended with him as the most decorated player in the Premier League era, with 34 trophies

She also told the court she was made to feel that a violent attack on her by him in a London hotel room had been her fault.

Mr Daw read a series of text messages between them the day after she said he kicked her in the back out of bed, threw a laptop bag at her head and threw her naked out of a hotel room.

She agreed the messages were "good humoured" and referred jokingly to their hangovers following an event they had both attended in London the evening before.

Mr Daw said Mr Giggs' version of events was that the pair had been at a work function and Ms Greville accused him of flirting with a woman he had been paired with for a crazy golf competition.

She denied she tried to "wind him up" by flirting with another man at a club later on.

Mr Daw said that the next morning you said to him: "I was so drunk I don't remember much about that night."

Ms Greville told the court: "While we were at breakfast I went to touch my head and my head was hurting, I said: 'Did you throw a bag at me last night?' and he said: 'Yes, but you wound me up that much you made me do it'."

When Mr Daw said this was "all just lies," she replied: "No, absolutely not."

Ms Greville was asked about the discovery of messages on Mr Giggs' phone that showed he had been messaging other women in August 2020.

She was asked whether her decision to leave him was based on infidelity, and not coercion or violence.

Ryan Giggs watched as Kate Greville's police interview was played for the jury

She replied it was "incorrect" that she left Mr Giggs solely because he was a cheat. She said she left him because of that, combined with everything else.

The court heard that in October Ms Greville messaged a friend saying she needed a plan and was not walking away with nothing.

Asked what she meant, she told the court she needed a plan to get away in secret, so Mr Giggs could not find her and harass her.

Making reference to her walking away remark, she said she was talking about the dog.

When asked if her plan was to get pregnant by Mr Giggs, she said: "No, absolutely not."

Ms Greville denied she was planning to get pregnant by having her contraceptive coil removed without Mr Giggs' knowledge, and that she did not recall continuing to have unprotected sex with him.

She denied she lied "prolifically" to the police, with Mr Daw saying "you have twisted the truth very carefully to try to implicate him in crimes he did not commit".

The trial continues.