the times | Thursday February 3 2022 15
News
Footballer
Greenwood
freed on bail
John Simpson Crime CorrespondentThe Manchester United footballer
Mason Greenwood has been released
on bail pending further investigations
after being arrested over allegations
of rape, sexual assault, death threats
and assault.
The England forward was arrested
on Sunday after images emerged on
social media showing a young woman
with a bloodied lip and a series of others
showing bruising said to have been
caused by Greenwood. An audio file
of a man apparently demanding sex
as a woman says “no” was also
posted online.
Greenwood, 20, has been suspended
by United and products bearing his
name have been removed from the
club’s online store. The striker, regarded
as one of the club’s most promising
young stars, will not play or train with
colleagues until further notice.
His multimillion-pound sponsorship
deal with Nike has been suspended and
he has been removed from the popular
Fifa football video game.
Team-mates including Cristiano
Ronaldo and Paul Pogba are thought to
have unfollowed him on social media
after the allegations emerged, but
others including Marcus Rashford
added him on Instagram yesterday.
Greenwood was initially arrested on
suspicion of rape and assault, but on
Tuesday after two nights in police cells
officers further arrested him on suspi-
cion of making death threats and
sexual assault. The striker, who earns
£75,000 a week, has yet to make any
public statement and his father, who is
also his agent, has not responded to
requests for comment.City player
faces new
attempted
rape charge
The Manchester City footballer Benja-
min Mendy has appeared in court to
face a new allegation of attempted rape.
The 27-year-old defender, who has
been suspended by his club, appeared at
Chester crown court, where a judge
ruled that the new charge the France
international faces could be reported.
Mendy now faces a total of nine
charges, including seven of rape invol-
ving six alleged victims.
At the pretrial hearing, Judge Patrick
Thompson urged lawyers to ensure
there was no delay and that the case
would be ready as he set a start date for
the trial of July 25. It is estimated that it
will last up to six weeks.
The judge said: “It’s not fair on the
complainants and not fair on the de-
fendants. I’m conscious of the fact that
the complainants have already suffered
significant delay.
“Say, for example, Mr Mendy: his
career is on hold. Everyone has got to
understand Mr Mendy can’t go to work.
This matter needs to be tried.”
The defendant, wearing a dark grey
suit, white shirt and black tie, spoke
only to confirm his identity and leant
his head towards a French interpreter
who sat between him and his co-defen-
dant, Louis Saha Matturie.
The judge set a further pre-trial hear-
ing for March 11.
Mendy, of Prestbury, Cheshire, is also
accused of one charge of sexual assault
and the latest charge, one of attempted
rape involving a new complainant.
Matturie, 40, of Eccles, Salford, is
accused of ten offences, involving seven
women, including seven charges of
rape relating to five women and three of
sexual assault.
All the charges span from late 2020
to August 2021. None of the woman
involved can be identified by law as
complainants of sexual offences.
Both defendants were given bail last
month after being in custody since theywere first arrested on August 26 last
year.
At the end of yesterday’s 90-minute
hearing, Judge Thompson told both of
the defendants: “You will next be
required to attend on Friday the 11th of
March.
“You both have your bail on condi-tions as before.” Mendy nodded and
replied: “OK.”
Mendy has played for Manchester
City since 2017, when he joined from
Monaco for a fee believed to be £52 mil-
lion. He has won three Premier League
titles and has ten caps for France, with
whom he won the World Cup in 2018.Benjamin Mendy, 27, who now faces a total of nine sexual offence charges, appeared at Chester crown court yesterdayLINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES“I’ve been trying to come up with
words for hours,” she wrote. “I have
wrote out a post and then deleted it.
Because nothing I say will bring you
back.
“I will miss our conversations, you
were always messaging me telling me
the newest thing you saw on how a per-
son can get pregnant!
“I will miss seeing your smile and
beautiful face! ‘You will be truly missed
by so many. Shine bright girly.”
Her aunt, Rosie Turcotte,
wrote on Facebook: “I am
so angry, sad and f***ing
mad. Want to say so much
right now, but mama al-
ways said if you have
nothing nice to say, say
nothing at all.
“Another special Angel
gone way too soon.”
Detectives are questioning a
23-year-old man on suspicion of
murder. Essex police are yet to confirm
the victim’s identity but it is understood
that officers have contacted her next
of kin.
Forensics officers remained at the
scene where the teenager was found.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott
Egerton, who is leading the investi-
gation, said: “We are at the early stages
of our investigation and are working to
build a picture of what happened.
“This incident took place in a resi-
dential area so I know it’s likely to cause
concern for those living nearby but we
have made a quick arrest and do not be-
lieve there is a risk to the wider public.”Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal team has
investigated the juror accused of giving
misleading answers during jury
selection for her trial and want the
evidence they have uncovered to be
kept secret until he is questioned, her
lawyers said last night.
The juror, who has been identified by
his first and middle names as Scotty
David, gave a series of interviews after
Maxwell’s conviction for sex trafficking
in late December in which he identified
himself as a survivor of sexual abuse.
He recalled drawing on his experiences
during deliberations and said
his story had helped to
convince jurors who were
wavering over her guilt.
His interviews raised
questions over whether he
had correctly filled out a
questionnaire that
candidates for the jury
answered under oath,
and which included a
question on whether
they or a family
member had been a
victim of sexual
harassment or abuse.
Maxwell lawyers demand
retrial over ‘biased’ juror
Those who answered yes were asked
whether it would affect their impartial-
ity, and could expect to be questioned
about it by the judge.
Scotty David did not appear to
remember being asked about it during
the selection process.
Prosecutors asked a judge for a
hearing, but Maxwell’s lawyers said
that the interviews were “incontrover-
tible grounds for a new trial”. They filed
a motion for a new trial last month,
under seal.
Since then, several American media
organisations have asked that it be
made public, arguing that there is a
presumption that the public should be
given access to such documents and
that open scrutiny of proceedings is
vital to the process.
Last night Maxwell’s lawyers
wrote to the judge, saying that
“Juror 50’s responses to the jury
questionnaire and questions
posed to him during in-per-
son voir dire [the process in
which jurors are questioned
to determine their imparti-
ality] corrupted the voir
dire process and violated
Ms Maxwell’s right to a
fair trial”.
Her legal team said
that “the existing record is
clear and more than
sufficient for the court to
grant Ms Maxwell a newtrial”. If Judge Alison Nathan
concurred, they said, they would
welcome the motion for a new trial
being made public at the same time as
her ruling.
Maxwell’s legal team added that if the
judge concluded that a hearing was
necessary, their motion should remain
sealed lest it give the juror a chance to
prepare answers to questions they
would ask him.
They said their motion included his
exact responses to questions on the
jury questionnaire, which is still under
seal. It also contained facts about some
other jurors’ responses and “the details
of investigative steps the defence has
taken and the evidence we have
uncovered thus far”, they said, as well as
what documents and evidence they
would seek before a hearing.
It would give the juror a “road map”
of the examination he was likely to face,
allowing him to “tailor his responses or
even possibly spoilate evidence, to
paint himself and his conduct in the
best light possible”, they argued.
It could also “influence the memories
of other potential witnesses,” the legal
team said.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted on five of
six charges, including sex trafficking
and conspiring to entice and transport
minors to be sexually abused by Jeffrey
Epstein.
She faces sentencing in June if the
judge does not grant her a new trial.Will Pavia New York
Teenager stabbed to death
two days before flying home
A Canadian teenager who flew to the
UK to meet her new boyfriend was
stabbed to death following a “domestic
disturbance”.
Ashley Wadsworth, 19, was found
dead at a block of flats in Chelmsford,
Essex at about 4pm on Tuesday after
concerned neighbours called police.
Wadsworth, who was in town to cele-
brate the birthday of her new boyfriend
Jack Sepple, 23, was due to fly home on
Thursday, according to a friend.
On Monday night, hours
before her murder, she had
posted a smiling selfie pos-
ing beside Sepple in the
sunshine and made the
image her profile picture.
Officers swarmed a
housing estate in Chelms-
ford on Tuesday evening
after what Essex police said
were reports of a domestic dis-
turbance.
Paramedics tried to revive Wad-
sworth but she died at the scene.
The teenager, above, from the small
city of Vernon in British Columbia, had
travelled to England on November 12 to
visit Sepple.
During her trip to the UK, Wad-
sworth had celebrated Sepple’s birth-
day on January 9 and visited tourist
attractions including Buckingham Pal-
ace and Big Ben in London.
She had also joined Sepple’s family
for a trip to Rye in East Sussex.
Larissa Kontos, a friend from Cana-
da, paid tribute to the dead teenager on
Facebook.Ghislaine Maxwell
was convicted of sex
trafficking on behalf
of Jeffrey Epstein
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