United’s defender Maguire gets suspended sentence
Manchester United defender Harry Maguire was given a 15-month suspended sentence over a nightclub scuffle involving police officers on the Greek island of Mykonos in August 2020, court officials said. On Wednesday, lawyers for the plaintiffs called on Maguire’s club and the English FA to sanction the player.
The England international originally was handed a 21-month suspended sentence shortly after the incident, but he appealed the ruling, which triggered a new trial at a court on the island of Syros, the region’s administrative Capital. The appeals trial had been delayed several times, including once because of a lawyers’ strike. Maguire, who turns 33 on Thursday, was convicted on charges of causing minor bodily harm, insulting police officers, attempted bribery, and unlawful violence against police officers.
The sentence was suspended for three years. Maguire can challenge Wednesday’s decision at Greece’s Supreme Court in Athens.
Lawyer wants FA to take action against Maguire: The centre-back, who was not present at the trial on Wednesday, has denied wrongdoing. In 2020, he said, “If anything, myself, family, and friends are the victims.”
But a lawyer representing police officers involved in the 2020 incident accused Maguire of displaying arrogance and a lack of remorse.
“He has never apologised — not even once. Not a single apology,” lawyer Ioannis Paradissis told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“As of today, he has a criminal record. “We hope that his club and the Football Association of England take action against him,” he added. “How is it possible for someone who now has a criminal record and has been convicted of acts of violence against police officers to continue to participate in national teams and in the England team? It’s unacceptable.”
Paradissis also issued a statement on behalf of the police officers, who had hoped for an apology as “an elementary gesture of respect.” “It is incompatible with the values of sport, and with the role-model status that elite athletes are expected to embody, for a person with a criminal record for violence to continue to appear as a Premier League player and as a public figure looked up to by young fans across the world,” it added.
