Manchester: Manchester United captain Harry Maguire defended his actions in Greece. It was an incident that led to him being charged with assaulting a police officer and attempted bribery. Harry Maguire said he thought he was being kidnapped and feared for his life. Maguire was convicted and handed a suspended 21-month sentence by a Greek court Tuesday. However, he was granted a retrial after lodging a successful appeal.
Maguire made his first public comments about the incident on the island of Mykonos in an interview with the BBC. He said plain-clothed police officers pulled him and a friend out of a minivan they were traveling in and started hitting them.
“My initial thought, I thought we were getting kidnapped. We got down on our knees, we put our hands in the air, they just started hitting us,” Maguire said. “They were hitting my leg saying my career’s over: ‘No more football. You won’t play again’. And at this point I thought there is no chance these are police. I did not know who they are so I tried to run away. I was in that much of a panic, fear, scared for my life, all the way through it,” the player added.
Maguire claimed that incident took place outside a police station after he attempted to take his younger sister Daisy to a hospital. She needed medical attention because she appeared to be losing consciousness. She was approached by two men during a night out.
The 27-year-old center back denied attempting to bribe the police. When asked about that, he replied: “No, for sure. As soon as I saw that statement, it’s just ridiculous.”
Maguire was dropped from Gareth Southgate’s England squad having initially been included before his conviction Tuesday. He insisted he has no reason to apologise for the incident. However, he expressed regret at causing potential embarrassment to his club.
“I don’t feel like I owe an apology to anybody. An apology is something when you’ve done something wrong or regret. I regret being in the situation,” Maguire said.
I am sure and confident that I will be cleared in the retrial. I have great faith in the Greek law. The retrial will give us more time to prepare, gather the evidence, allow witnesses into the court. And I am really confident that the truth will be told and come out,” he added.
Maguire also talked about the incident with his sister. “These two men approached my little sister, asked her where she was from. She responded and then my fiancee, Fern, saw my little sister’s eyes go into the back of her head. She ran over and she was fainting, she was in and out of consciousness,” Maguire stated.