Harry Maguire says he was scared for his life during the recent incident which saw him found guilty of aggravated assault in Greece, with the Manchester United captain maintaining he won’t apologise for his actions.
Maguire, 27, has already appealed and maintained his innocence after being handed a 21-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday.
The Man Utd captain was found guilty of charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and repeated attempts of bribery after an incident in Mykonos, Greece last week.
Speaking to BBC Sport’s Dan Roan in his first public interview since the incident, Maguire said he thought he was being kidnapped – and denied that he had attempted to bribe police.
“These two men approached my little sister,” Maguire said.
“They asked where she was from, she responded and then my fiancee saw her eyes going to the back of her head. She ran over, and she was fainting, in and out of consciousness.
“My initial thought, I thought we were getting kidnapped. We got down on our knees, put our hands in the air.
“They started hitting us, he got one of my hands in the handcuff and he was hitting my leg saying, ‘Your career’s over, no more football, you won’t play again’.
“At that point I thought there’s no chance these are police, I don’t know who they are, I tried to run away. I was in that much of a panic, fear… I was scared for my life.”
Maguire added that he doesn’t see any reason to apologise for his actions.
“I don’t feel like I owe an apology to anybody,” he said. “An apology is when you’ve done something wrong. I regret putting the fans and the club through this.”
Asked if he had attempted to bribe the police, Maguire replied: “No, for sure. As soon as I saw that statement, it’s just ridiculous.”
Maguire was also asked whether he will be able to continue as Man Utd captain.
“It’s a massive privilege to play for the club, never mind to be captain. It’s not my decision to make.
“I have great faith in the Greek law, that the retrial will give us more time to prepare, gather evidence and allow witnesses into the court, and the truth will come out.”
Under Greek law, Maguire’s appeal nullifies his conviction and means there will be a full retrial in a more senior court.
The defender, his brother Joe Maguire and their friend Christopher Sharman were all found guilty after a trial in Syros, Greece following the incident.
Greek police claimed the three defendants had been involved in an altercation with officers, and that bribery was attempted after they were taken to the police station.
The court heard the altercation began after an incident with another group, who they believed had injected Maguire’s sister Daisy with a suspected ‘date rape’ drug.
Maguire pleaded not guilty to all charges and was represented by one of his lawyers, Alexis Anagnostakis.
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