A NEIGHBOUR of Ryan Giggs has told a court she said “Oh Ryan, not this again” when the ex-footballer knocked on her door saying his girlfriend had accused him of seeing other woman.
Linda Cheung said the former Wales manager was “upset and distressed” when he came to her house on the night he is accused of assaulting his then-partner Kate Greville.
Prosecutors claim Giggs, 48, headbutted Ms Greville, 38, at his home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, on Novermber 1 2020.
On Monday Mrs Cheung told Manchester Crown Court she heard a “loud banging” on her front door, and opened it to find Giggs in a distressed state.
“He asked me to help him,” she said.
“He said words to the effect of that Kate had been accusing him of seeing other women and he wanted me to go and sort her out.”
Mrs Cheung said her exact words were: “Oh Ryan, not this again.”
She said she told him she could not help because she did not know what had happened.
“He was distressed and I noticed immediately he had his slippers on.
“He said, ‘Can I phone the police, she’s got my phone, she won’t leave’.
“I remember holding my phone out. I said, ‘I’m not phoning the police, but you can use my phone’.”
Mrs Cheung said Giggs did not take her phone and walked back to his house.
“I probably just stared blankly at him because I was panicking,” she said.
“I was so concerned I just watched the rest of the evening from my windows.”
She told the court she carried on watching the house after the police had left because she was concerned about Giggs’s dog, which she said he “idolised”.
Mrs Cheung said Ms Greville, her sister Emma and a male returned to the house after 1am and were “screaming, shouting, laughing, running up and down my drive” with the dog.
Asked by Chris Daw QC, representing Giggs, about the mood, Mrs Cheung replied: “The mood was hijinks.”
She said she had known Giggs for 21 years and he had “always” been polite and neighbourly.
She told the court she did not recall him having any injuries when he was at her door.
Giggs denies assaulting Kate Greville causing her actual bodily harm and assault by beating of Emma Greville.
He has also pleaded not guilty to controlling and coercive behaviour against Kate Greville between August 2017 and November 2020.
The trial continues.
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