Man United star account ridiculed over arrest account

A Greek prosecution lawyer has dismissed as “ridiculous” the account given by Harry Maguire, the captain of English soccer giants Manchester United in an interview published on Friday about the circumstances that led to his arrest last week on the island of Mykonos and subsequent conviction for assaulting a police officer and attempted bribery. 

In his first public comments since the incident, Maguire told the BBC on Thursday that when he was confronted by plainclothes policemen who tried to break up the brawl he was involved in, he thought he was being kidnapped and feared for his life.

“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,’” he added.

However, his account was slammed by Greek lawyer for the prosecution Ioannis Paradissis as “unbelievable” and “ridiculous.”

“I read what Maguire said and it’s ridiculous and only adds further insult to the harm he caused the policemen he attacked and the Greek justice system as a whole,” he said in comments to the Daily Mail.

“Maguire claims that he feared he was being kidnapped yet his response is to run away and call his agent, leaving behind his fiancée, brothers and sister and childhood friends. Even if you accepted this as true, which I don’t, these are not the actions of an honorable man,” Paradissis said.

Maguire received a 21-month suspended prison sentence from a court on the neighboring island of Syros.