Harry Maguire has confirmed his conviction has been upheld after the Manchester United star was handed a 15-month suspended sentence and a retrial in Greece was finally forced on Wednesday.
Harry Maguire plans to appeal against conviction (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Harry Maguire has allegedly refused to pay a £50,000 bribe to “get rid of” his ordeal of being arrested in Greece. Maguire, 33, was handcuffed on the Greek island of Mykonos in August 2020, and his retrial for his original conviction was finally held on Wednesday after four postponements.
After spending the better part of six years fighting to clear his name, his assault and bribery convictions were upheld. The Manchester United star was originally given a 21-month suspended sentence in 2020, but this was changed to 15 months and 20 days, plus a €1,500 (approximately £1,304) fine.
Mr Maguire has always denied wrongdoing but plans to appeal his conviction. After the retrial, The Sun reported that the England international claimed he was repeatedly told by undercover police that if he paid £50,000 the case would “go away”.
A source told the paper that Maguire would rather be convicted than pay bribes and had no intention of paying a penny. “All will be revealed in his upcoming documentary,” it added.
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Maguire played the full game for United on Wednesday, hours after his conviction was upheld. The centre-back was unable to prevent Michael Carrick’s side from losing 2-1 to Newcastle at St James’ Park in the Premier League.
The incident occurred while Maguire, his family and several friends were holidaying in Mykonos following the end of the extended 2019-20 Premier League season. Maguire was United’s captain during that time. The group, which included his wife Fern, sister Daisy, brother Joe and five others, were waiting for a taxi to take them back to their holiday home when two Albanian men approached Daisy and tried to speak to her.
Harry Maguire was first convicted in 2020 (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Maguire claimed that the men injected Daisy with an unknown substance before she blacked out or began to black out. The former Leicester player claims he tried to take Daisy to hospital but was instead taken to a police station where he was punched in the leg by uniformed men and told his football career was over.
One of the police statements was that Harry and Joe tried to bribe the police officer. Maguire denies the charges but spent two nights in a police cell before going to trial.
He was found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery, assault and insulting a public servant. Joe and his friend Christopher Sherman were also convicted.
Joe was subsequently acquitted of attempted bribery. However, the court upheld charges of aggravated assault and verbal abuse against police.
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