Harry Maguire said he feared for his life.
Speaking publicly for the first time since he was arrested in Mykonos, Greece, Harry Maguire has given his account of what happened.
The Manchester United captain was found guilty of aggravated assault, attempted bribery and resisting arrest and given a suspended sentence of 21 months and 10 days before an appeal against the verdict nullified the conviction.
There will be a full retrial in a more senior court.
Having returned to the UK, he spoke to the BBC‘s Dan Roan in a television interview and explained that he feared for his life.
“I don’t feel I owe an apology to anybody,” Maguire said.
“An apology is something when you have done something wrong.
“I don’t wish it on anybody. Obviously the situation has made it difficult for one of the biggest clubs in the world, so I regret putting the fans and the club through this, but I did nothing wrong.
“I found myself in a situation where it could have happened to anybody and anywhere.”
“I feared for my life”
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire tells the BBC he thought he was being kidnapped when he was arrested in Greece last weekhttps://t.co/S3rZorWbMe pic.twitter.com/UcNHLMTQwa
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) August 27, 2020
Discussing injuries he claims the men who arrested inflicted on him, Maguire said: “They hit me a lot on the legs. It wasn’t on my mind. I was in that much of a panic. Fear. Scared for my life.”
He said his “conscience was clear” and added “I know what happened that night. I know the truth.”
“When I speak about it I get worked up but that’s because it just makes me feel a bit angry inside. I will move on. I am mentally strong enough.”
Speaking about whether he could be stripped of the United captaincy, Maguire said: “It is such a huge honour to be captain of Manchester United – something I am really proud of,” he said. “It is a massive privilege to play for the club, never mind captain.
“It is not my decision to make but the one thing I will say is how supportive the club has been from top to bottom. They have been great with me and I thank them for that.”
As told to the BBC, Maguire said the night unfolded in the following order:
His group of friends were tired after a night out and called to have their minibus pick them up.
His sister was approached by two men. Maguire’s fiancee saw his sister, Daisy’s eyes roll to the back of her head before she fainted, and was “in and out of consciousness.”
“It was just a lot of shouting, a lot of commotion. No fighting, as has been reported. No punches thrown,” he said.
The bus turned up, they boarded the bus and Daisy recovered “pretty quickly.”
The bus then drove for between five and ten minutes before pulling over. “We looked outside and there were eight men surrounding the bus all in plain clothes,” he said. They were then “thrown off the bus.”
Maguire says the men did not say anything to them and at that point he believed he was being kidnapped.
Maguire then ran towards the main road and sent his agent WhatsApp messages, asking for help.
He and his friend were then circled by the group of plain clothed men, and he was then taken to prison and put in a cell.
“That was the time I felt a little bit of relief, as crazy as that sounds. There were other people in the cell telling me to calm down and it felt like relief because that was the first time I actually believed I was in prison,” he said.
Greek police dispute this version of events. In court the prosecution said that Maguire, his brother and friend then physically and verbally attacked police officers.
