the times | Friday August 28 2020 2GM 7
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Keep karma and carry on “Suki” meditates at her grandmother’s house in Bexhill, East Sussex, and an odd couple on the prom at Margate, Kent — two of the winners in this year’s Portrait of Britain Awards
HUGH FOX; SAM GREGG/PORTRAIT OF BRITAINThe England footballer Harry Maguire
said he feared for his life and thought he
was being kidnapped when he was
arrested by Greek police officers last
week.
The Manchester United captain,
who is 27, became emotional during his
first interview since he allegedly
attacked officers and tried to bribe
them after a bar brawl on Mykonos.
He claimed that police in plain
clothes did not identify themselves
when they pulled him out of a minibus
and had hit his legs while saying: “No
more football, you won’t play again.”
Mr Maguire was granted a full retrial
on Wednesday after being convicted of
assault and attempted bribery offences
at a court on the island of Syros a day
earlier.
The defender said that hearing the
guilty verdict was “horrible” but that
his “conscience is so clear” as he did not
throw punches at, or offer to pay off, the
officers. He admitted he had had “a few
drinks” but maintains that he was in
control and “wasn’t drunk”. “I don’t feel
I owe an apology to anybody,” Mr
Maguire told Dan Roan, of BBC Sport.
“An apology is something when you
have done something wrong.”
Mr Maguire was close to tears as he
described the incident, which is said to
have started a bar brawl that alerted
police to his group of family and friends,
who had been out drinking on
Mykonos.
“These two men approached my lit-
tle sister,” he said. “They asked her
where she was from. She responded,
and then my fiancée saw my little sis-
ter’s eyes like go into the back of her
head. She ran over and she was fainting
— she was in and out of consciousness.”
Mr Maguire claimed that the group
got into a minibus and asked to be taken
to a hospital to get treatment for his sis-
ter, Daisy, but were then pulled over by
police.
“I thought we were being kidnapped.
We got down on our knees, we put our
hands in the air,” he said.
“They were hitting my legs, saying
my career is over. ‘No more football,
you won’t play again.’ At this point I
thought there’s no chance these are
police. I don’t know who they are. So I
tried to run away. I was in that much of
panic. Fear. Scared for my life.”
Mr Maguire, who was dropped from
the England squad over his conviction,International hunt for
father who seized boys
John Simpson Crime CorrespondentA man has abducted his three sons
from foster care at knifepoint, prompt-
ing an international search.
Police are looking for Imran Safi and
the boys, who were taken from a garden
in south London.
Scotland Yard said ports had been
put on alert after he threatened a foster
mother with a knife and led Bilal, six,
Mohammed Ebrar, five, and Moham-
med Yaseen, three, from the property in
Coulsdon, Croydon, last week.
Police do not know whether Mr Safi,
26, and the boys have left the country or
gone into hiding. The foster carer did
not suffer serious injury but was
“understandably distressed”.
Detectives believe that Mr Safi, an
Afghan with links to Pakistan, had
learnt that his sons were about to be
adopted. Eight people have been
arrested on suspicion of helping him.
The force appealed for information
regarding the movements of a red Nis-
san Qashqai, registration PK13 WFO,
seen last Thursday afternoon in the
Croydon area.
Commander Jon Savell said: “He
turned up, took the foster mother by
surprise. We understand he was in
possession of a knife, threatened the
foster mother and took the kids away
using force. These children were
happy, settled and should have been
returning to school imminently.”
Mr Savell said there was a “strong
possibility” that Mr Safi had already
taken the boys out of the country,
adding: “It would be quite difficult
to keep three young boys
completely hidden for a
week. So that has to be
one of the main hypothe-ses. This is a very unusual and very
shocking incident.”
More than a hundred officers have
been working on what detectives called
an “enormous” investigation. Mr Savell
said: “The unusualness about this is
that we have not been able to find them
quickly. Usually, in a parental abduc-
tion we are able to make contact and
bring them to safety. They may well be
somewhere stashed away in theLondon area or elsewhere. We are now
really appealing for anyone who has
seen Imran or three boys in the com-
pany of anyone else.
“Our absolute priority is the welfare
of these children. While we do not be-
lieve there is any immediate risk to their
physical safety, their location,
access to accommodation, healthcare,
and other provisions is entirely un-
known. We are concerned
about the longer-term impact
of this on all three children.”
He said officers who spe-
cialised in tracing people
were working on the case
and in contact with inter-
national forces. He urged
anyone who had
seen the incident
to come for-
ward.Bilal, six, Mohammed Ebrar, five, and
Mohammed Yaseen, three, were taken
at knifepoint by their father, Imran SafiMaguire: I feared I was
about to be kidnapped
also said that the claims of bribery and
that he had said “Do you know who I
am?” were “ridiculous”.
He said he had “great faith” and con-
fidence in Greek law and that his retrial
would give him more time to prepare
and gather evidence and witnesses.
The Times understands that his law-
yers cited “wrong and misleading”
accusations against the footballer, his
brother, Joe, and his friend, Chris Shar-
man, as they successfully sought an
appeal. However, the convictions still
stand, Ioannis Paradissis, the prosecu-
tion lawyer representing three of the
police officers in the case, has said —
contrary to claims by Manchester
United. “The conviction is not nulli-
fied,” Mr Paradissis said. “It is instead
suspended until it goes to appeal.”
One well-placed court source said
that Mr Maguire’s lawyers would re-
ceive a letter setting the date for a retrial
“probably by December”.
Mr Maguire, who was signed to
United from Leicester City last year for
£80 million, was named his new club’s
permanent captain in January after the
departure of Ashley Young to Inter Mi-
lan, and he is likely to remain as skipper.
“I don’t wish it on anybody,” he added
of his court case. “Obviously the situa-
tion 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.”
Wayne Rooney, the former Man-
chester United and England striker,
criticised the Greek justice system for
being so quick to convict the player.
England’s record goal scorer described
the assault and bribery allegations
against Mr Maguire as out of character.Charlie Parker
Harry Maguire was close to tears as he
described the incident on Mykonos