The court docket mentioned Ryan Giggs’ ex-girlfriend was “a lady despised due to the footballer’s infidelity”.

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Photo Peter Byrne PA Pictures

Ryan Giggs’ ex-girlfriend is a “despised” woman who is “angry” at his inability to stay faithful to her, the ex-Manchester United footballer’s lawyer has said.

In his closing remarks to the panel of seven women and five men, Chris Daw QC said: “This case is about infidelity”.

Giggs, 48, denies headbutting Ms Greville, 38, at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester on November 1, 2020 and also intentionally elbowing her 26-year-old sister Emma.

He has also pleaded not guilty to controlling and coercing Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.

Mr Daw asked the Manchester Crown Court jury to consider whether prosecutors had “picked” evidence.

The court heard that as part of the investigation into the allegations, around 19,671 messages had been recovered between the couple during their six-year on/off relationship – enough to fill 56 350-page file folders.

Mr Daw said: “In this case there is no argument that both Ryan Giggs and Kate Greville were compulsive, if not addicted, messagers.”

He said it was “pretty mind-boggling” that if the files were stacked they “could probably reach the ceiling” compared to the prosecution’s selection of messages to fit in a “small, white” file.”

Human error

Mr Daw continued: “Ryan Giggs is not on trial because he is human or has human error and sometimes, very rarely, uses extreme language. His feelings escaped him on very few occasions.

“From these thousands of messages, prosecutors have managed to point to a tiny number of examples of loss of speech control. Not a single indication that he was violent towards her.”

He said even though there were “dozens and dozens” of messages accusing Giggs of cheating and she didn’t trust him.

Mr Daw said: “That is because this case is about infidelity.

“Why were the allegations made? There is no doubt that Ms Greville was deeply upset and angry at Mr Giggs’ inability to remain faithful to him for any length of time.”

He referred to Ms Greville’s “final goodbye” letter, which was written in the days leading up to the alleged assaults but was not sent to Giggs and which made no mention of allegations of violence or controlling behavior.

Mr Daw said: “What we can gather from this letter is that Mrs Greville is extremely angry and, I hesitate to say the word, despised. But it was despised by all that infidelity.”

Lie

He said the college graduate and “leading expert” on public relations and media communications had “told so many lies, so many that can’t possibly be true.”

Lying to Giggs that she has cancer is “a pretty manipulative lie to tell someone,” he said.

He said: “At almost every stage there was exaggeration and twisting from the start.”

Looking at photos she posted to Giggs during their relationship, he said it’s a “miracle she’s had time to do everything except go on vacation.”

He said she vacationed abroad frequently with Mr. Giggs, as well as with her friends, and enjoyed numerous dinners and parties with Giggs and friends.

She also has her own job and apartment, he said.

Mr Daw said: ‘What does he control? There’s no evidence he controls anything she’s ever done, you might think.”

The lawyer suggested it was “simply, absolutely unbelievable” that there had been a headbutt attack on the evening of November 1st.

He said: “It was something that was created because she (Kate Greville) had a lip cut off – like him – and she started screaming and screaming that he had headbutted her.”

The defense says the clashing of faces was accidental.

Cheat

Mr Daw told jurors the defendant was not on trial because he was “flirtatious, an impulsive womanizer, an adulterer, a liar or a con man”.

He said: “If they were crimes, he would be guilty of them, or at least some of them. Being unfaithful is pretty much as old as mankind, you might think.

“If it were crime, just think how many prisons you would need. Probably five Strangeways in Manchester.”

Mr Daw said watching Gigg’s cross-examination by Peter Wright QC was “almost a blood sport”.

He said: “One of the leading lawyers of the last 40 years against someone who has had limited training and whose talents lie mainly in his feet. If it were reversed, it would be like Mr. Wright scoring against Ryan Giggs at his peak.

“You may think he’s like a rabbit in the spotlight on the witness stand that Mr Wright faces… and you may have thought Mr Giggs approved of everything and that his career was more at Bolton Wanderers than Manchester United.”

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