Ryan Giggs' ex 'had dropped phone in river before police asked to examine them'
10 August 2022, 13:19 | Updated: 10 August 2022, 17:48
Ryan Giggs' former girlfriend has said she dropped her phone in a river when police asked her to hand it over for their investigations.
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Kate Greville told the ex-Manchester United player's trial that she had tried to rescue her dog from the water when it "slipped out of my pocket".
Another phone then went missing when she was mugged in Manchester city centre, but when police suggested data could be retrieved on iCloud, she said she did not want details of her business revealed.
Ms Greville told Manchester Crown Court: "I was still in shock. I was not having a clear mind. I didn't feel confident that private information of my business and my clients was not going to be passed over in a bad way.
"I didn't want him to damage my career. I was scared about it."
Chris Daw QC, defending Mr Giggs, said: "The other reason is that you were worried whether there was material on the phone that would discredit you as a witness."
Ms Greville replied: "Comments that might have made it look like something it was not. I said to one of my friends I needed a plan of attack once I found everything out and I was waiting to leave and how I was going to leave in secret, how I was going to sign for a flat.
"At that time I was worried that things would get twisted."
When spoken to about his line of questioning, Mr Daw said to the judge that it was "designed towards the proposition that the witness deliberately withheld information that would undermine the case against Mr Giggs". Ms Greville denied that.
Previously in Wednesday's cross-examination, Mr Daw asked Ms Greville about an email which the court heard was sent by Mr Giggs, with the subject title 'Blackmail' and a video attachment.
She suggested it could be an intimate video that he would release if he did not unblock her after the relationship went sour and refused to view it, but Mr Daw suggested she viewed the video and saw it was not a sexual clip.
Ms Greville said she did not watch the clip, deleted it and was unable to later find the attachment but handed over her laptop for police to look at.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Greville told the court that Mr Giggs made her feel like she "had to do what he said otherwise there were consequences" and became a "slave to his every need and every demand".
Mr Giggs, 48, who was most recently managing the Wales national team, denies using controlling and coercive behaviour against his 36-year-old ex between August 2017 and November 2020.
He also denies assaulting her, causing actual bodily harm and the common assault of her younger sister.
The court heard how she made a statement the day before the trial started when she described herself with the "slave" remark.
"That is what it felt like. When Ryan said do something, I would do it," she told jurors at Manchester Crown Court.
"There was resistance sometimes but he made me feel like I had to do what he said, otherwise there would be consequences."
Ms Greville made a number of witness statements after the alleged assault and has made two in the past week.
Mr Daw asked the PR executive is she had lied to the police or told lies to her family or friends about the case, to which she replied "no".
Mr Daw said: "It's your position, is it not, that in effect he almost manipulated you into entering a relationship in the first place - a degree of mind games?"
Ms Greville replied: "I was in a vulnerable position and he played on it."
Mr Daw said: "This was not just two consenting adults, both equally married at the time, who embarked on an affair?"
She replied: "There was a degree of imbalance on my side because of the situation I was in with my ex-husband."
Ms Greville told jurors that Mr Giggs' behaviour affected her friendships and he "isolated me from certain people", and "interfered with my ability to interact with my family".
Mr Daw also asked if Ms Greville was "planning on seeking a large sum of compensation when this is over?"
"From?" Ms Greville asked.
"Mr Giggs," Mr Daw said.
"For what?" Ms Greville replied.
"Anything," Mr Daw said.
Ms Greville said: "Absolutely not."
Mr Daw also talked through her interest in psychological elements of the relationship.
"He was not constantly awful, not constantly horrible. It was hot and cold. Two different people. The result of his behaviour ... undermined my self-confidence," she said of Mr Giggs.
Mr Daw looked back on the start of Ms Greville and Mr Giggs' relationship, as she described how Mr Giggs had used her name a number of times, which was a technique she had read about in the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. At the time Ms Greville was in a "controlling marriage".
He said: "The impression you give is you only really had an affair with Ryan because you were unhappy and he basically reeled you in?"
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Ms Greville said: "I'm not saying it was all one-sided. I was fully involved in that. There was things about him that definitely were luring me into a relationship."
Mr Daw said: "The truth is it's a complete fiction Ryan was using psychological techniques on your vulnerabilities. It's just rubbish?"
Ms Greville said: "Absolutely not. I felt like he was using techniques. I was vulnerable, that's a fact. I was in a controlling relationship. That's a fact."
Previously in the trial, Ms Greville told jurors that after she confronted him about his repeat cheating the ex-footballer grabbed her by the shoulders and headbutted her in November 2020.
She had learned he had "full-on relationships" with eight women during their time together, finding messages "going back years" on Giggs' iPad that led to her leave him.
Mr Daw also spoke about past messages between them, characterising some as affectionate, while also discussing a bruise she sustained that was noticed by a friend in Dubai.
Mr Daw said: "You didn't say anything about it being an assault."
Ms Greville said: "No, because I was embarrassed and I didn't want to admit it."
Mr Daw said: "It was a bruise caused by rough sex that the two of you enjoyed a lot."
Ms Greville said: "That bruise was not caused by rough sex."
A few days after the alleged incident in Dubai, she messaged an image of herself to Mr Giggs.
Text sent with it said: "Tan is coming along nicely. My sex bruise is coming along nicely too!!"
Mr Daw said: "The truth of it is you did from time to time get bruises from sex."
Ms Greville said: "Not that I recall."
The trial continues.
