Former Manchester United and Wales star Ryan Giggs threw his then-girlfriend out of a hotel room while she was naked, a court has heard.
Mr Giggs, 48, is on trial accused of controlling behaviour and assaulting his former girlfriend Kate Greville and her younger sister Emma.
In an interview heard by the jury, Ms Greville, 36, told detectives Mr Giggs was her “best friend and her soulmate” but he became “abusive and nasty”.
Mr Giggs has denied all the charges.
He is charged with controlling and coercive behaviour against Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.
He is also charged with assaulting Kate Greville, causing her actual bodily harm, and common assault of Emma Greville at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on 1 November 2020.
Ms Greville was interviewed by police weeks after she alleged the former Wales manager headbutted her in November 2020.
She described to detectives an how Mr Giggs had once “flipped” in a hotel room after she confronted him about messaging another woman.
She said he squared up to her, grabbed her wrist “hard” and “literally dragged” her naked across the floor and threw her and her belongings into the corridor.
Ms Greville added that she was left feeling “humiliated and embarrassed”.
She told detectives that months before the alleged assault in November 2020, she found evidence that Mr Giggs had had relationships with eight other women over the previous six years.
Ms Greville said that she saw early “red flags” in the relationship and it was “almost like he was two people”.
She told detectives both she and Mr Giggs were married when their affair started and she was in an unhappy and controlling marriage.
“He would tell me about his marriage and he was not happy, I would talk about mine,” she said.
She said things “developed” from that point on and she left her husband two months later.
“He was like a best friend, a soulmate, he was the one to save me from that marriage,” she added.
‘You are a whore’
During their affair, she said Mr Giggs kept promising he would leave his wife after she had ended her own marriage, but it did not happen.
At one point she stopped speaking to him and ignored his messages and calls, she said.
Ms Greville told police that Mr Giggs turned up at her apartment but she ignored him prompting him to shout: “You are a whore. Have you got somebody in there?”
He went on to threaten her that he would tell her boss about their secret affair, she said.
Rumours began at Ms Greville’s workplace about the pair but she lied about it because she was “ashamed I was seeing a married man”.
Mr Giggs would message her saying the marriage was over but again she discovered it was not, she said.
“It was just complete mind games. That went on for ages,” she added.
The affair became public in May 2016, the court heard, which she said was “horrendous” as she was “hounded by the paps”.
It continued to be an on-off relationship, despite her blocking him at times on her phone and emails, the court heard.
“It was literally like I was addicted to him. I couldn’t get him out of my head,” she said.
She said Mr Giggs told her he needed more time to end his marriage with his then-wife.
Eventually, Ms Greville said she gave him an ultimatum but nothing changed and she decided to move to Abu Dhabi to “get away from him”.
The trial continues. (BBC)
