Harry Maguire retrial verdict: Man Utd star found guilty of non-serious assault & handed suspended 15-month sentence over 2020 brawl in Greece

Maguire’s retrial in Greece went ahead on Wednesday at the fifth attempt, with the United and England defender still fighting allegations of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and attempted bribery following his arrest for his involvement in an alleged brawl on the island of Mykonos in August 2020. 

The conviction was automatically quashed on appeal under Greek law and a retrial had been postponed four times until finally taking place on Wednesday. Maguire did not attend the hearing as he is preparing for United's Premier League match at Newcastle on Wednesday night.

As well as having the suspended sentence reduced in length and severity, Maguire no longer has to pay a fine. 

The incident occurred during the break between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, one year after Maguire had joined United from Leicester City for £80m, a then-record fee for a defender. He was United's captain at the time as well as an England regular.

Speaking to the BBC shortly after his arrest, Maguire claimed he thought he was being kidnapped and said he feared for his life when plain-clothed police officers pulled over his group's minibus, threw him off the bus, hit him on the legs and told him his career was over. He also said he tried to run away, wearing one handcuff, because he did not know who the men were. 

He 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. I don't feel I owe an apology to anybody. 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."

Maguire explained at the time that he was surprised about how quickly the trial went ahead and that he had not expected it to take place. He said: "It was horrible. It was such a quick turnaround it was incredible. We got the pages for the transcript for the court on the evening before. A big document, all in Greek. I hardly had any chance to speak to my lawyer. We were confident the case would be adjourned, to give us more time to prepare and get the witnesses and the evidence that we have. For it to all happen so quickly... we obviously didn't expect the trial to go ahead."

GOAL understands that Maguire, who turns 33 on Thursday, has refused multiple opportunities to settle the case with a financial offer because he is determined to clear his name legally. He is going to appeal to the Supreme Court, which, if successful, would quash the judgement.