Ryan Giggs trial jury shown police video of his arrest

The jury at the trial of Ryan Giggs has been shown police video of the moment he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his then girlfriend after admitting he had hit her on the lip in what he described as a “tangle” over a puppy and mobile phone.

On the fifth day of the trial at Manchester crown court, the former footballer could be heard in the video saying Kate Greville had kicked him first in the head in a “struggle” in the couple’s home in Worsley on 1 November 2020.

He said they were rowing about a puppy and Greville’s refusal to return Giggs’s mobile phone.

Giggs, 48, could be heard telling an officer: “We got into a little bit of a tangle – rumbled on the floor there.” He added: “She kicked me in the head – busted my lip … I hit her on the lip.”

Greville was found by police with such a bruised lip that she had problems speaking, the jury was told. In another body-worn camera video played to the court she could be seen with her head in her hands as she sat on the home’s kitchen floor.

Asked by the officer if Greville would give the same version of events, Giggs said: “She’s just going to say I attacked her.”

Giggs told the officer that before the struggle he had asked Greville, 38, to leave after an argument about a recently born cocker spaniel. When she refused, he moved her possessions outside the property.

Recounting the argument, Giggs could he heard saying: “‘It’s my puppy, no it’s my puppy,’ that sort of thing. Then I went into the garage and looked after the dog. I come back. I’ve just said let’s go. She won’t go. I’ve told my neighbour: ‘Can you please help me? Please ring the police because Kate isn’t going.’ She [the neighbour] is not getting involved.”

Giggs could also be heard saying he withheld Greville’s phone from her. “I’m not giving her her phone stupidly. There’s been a struggle. I got injured first then calmed down.”

Later in the video Giggs summarised the incident for the officer. He could be heard saying: “We had an argument. She was insistent on taking back our puppy. She wouldn’t leave. She had my phone. She wouldn’t give me my phone for about half an hour.”

Giggs told the officer he had been in a relationship with Greville, a PR executive, for about three years. Asked for her date of birth he said he did not know it.

The jury was also played audio from two 999 calls made by Emma Greville, 26, raising the alarm about what she said was an assault on her sister. She said: “Please come quickly. He’s just head-butted her in the face … She’s got blood everywhere.”

Kate Greville could be heard screaming and sobbing in the background as Giggs could be heard swearing. “You’ve just hurt her,” her sister could be heard telling Giggs.

The operator asks: “Does she need an ambulance that lady who is screaming in the background?”

Emma Greville, who had been at the property to look after the couple’s dogs while they were out for a meal at the Stock Exchange hotel in Manchester city centre, replied: “I don’t know. It’s just a burst lip, I can’t tell you.”

She was also asked to identify the man who carried out the assault. She replied: “Ryan Giggs, the footballer.” The operator then asked: “As in the Ryan Giggs?”

Asked by the operator if either Giggs or Greville were “intoxicated”, the sister said: “Yes, both.”

Giggs was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Kate Greville as he was led uncuffed from the property and into the back of a police van. He was arrested again after allegations made by Emma Greville.

Giggs denies the allegations and also denies an accusation that he used controlling and coercive behaviour against Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.

Giggs is also alleged to have assaulted Emma Greville by elbowing her in the jaw on the same evening. He denies common assault against her.

The trial will resume on Monday.