Ryan Giggs' former partner tells court first Covid-19 lockdown spent with him was 'utter hell'

The former partner of footballer Ryan Giggs has told a court living with him during the first Covid-19 lockdown was "utter hell".

Giving evidence under cross-examination, Kate Greville told Chris Daw QC the pair argued 'many' times, including one involving loading the dishwasher.

The PR executive said: "I felt like I was losing my mind. I was having panic attacks. It was a horrific time for me."

When asked why she moved into the former Manchester United player and Welsh international’s home during the first Covid-19 lockdown if “he had been a serial and violent abuser”.

The 36-year-old said: “It was a cycle of abuse that made me feel insecure.

“I kept going back, he kept promising the world.”

Her voice broke as she told the jury: “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.”

Giggs, 48, denies using controlling and coercive behaviour against Ms Greville between August 2017 and November 2020, assaulting her, causing actual bodily harm and the common assault of her younger sister.

Manchester Crown Court heard the pair moved in together for the first time in March 2020 at Giggs' home in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

Chris Daw QC, defending, continued his cross-examination of Ms Greville, asking her: “Could you have gone to your parents or someone else?”

Ms Greville replied: “Yes.”

Mr Daw said: “Was one of the reasons you didn’t because actually you wanted to spend time with Ryan in his rather larger house?”

The witness said: “I wanted to stay with Ryan, not because of his house but because we had just started the relationship again.”

Mr Daw said: “Can I suggest that you would not have done that if he had been a serial and violent abuser?”

The barrister played to the jury of seven women and two men two videos of the couple in lockdown – one in which they exercised together in the garden and the other rapping along to 50 Cent’s In Da Club.

Mr Daw put it to Ms Greville that lockdown was obviously hard but the pair were doing normal things “much of the time” and having fun.

Ms Greville said: “It was not all fun. It doesn’t mean he was being nice to me all the time.

“At the start of lockdown it was fine but it got progressively worse.”

During lockdown, the couple also took part in online family quizzes, wine tasting on Zoom and had Michelin-starred chefs bring in food, the court heard.

But Ms Greville said there were arguments, including one involving loading the dishwasher.

She told the court: “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. That’s just one example of many.”

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

She said: "His impact on how I was feeling - it made me not want to interact with my friends as much and tell them what was going on, most of the time I kept everything to myself, which obviously affected my relationship with my friends."

Ms Greville said that she “didn’t frequently spend time with my family”, but that her sister would regularly come to the house.

“She helped around the house, that’s why [Giggs] liked her,” she said.

Earlier in the trial, Ms Greville told a jury Giggs grabbed her by the shoulders and head-butted her in November 2020 after she confronted him about his serial cheating.

In the lead up to the alleged attack, she said she learned he had “full-on relationships” with eight women while they were together.

The discovery of messages “going back years” on Giggs’s iPad prompted her to decide to leave him, she said.

Ms Greville has told the jury she became “a slave to his every need and every demand”.