There is “no chance” Harry Maguire will apologise to the Greek police officers involved in his assault case, according to his brother.
Laurence Maguire, the younger sibling of the Manchester United and England defender, spoke out on social media after the lawyer for two police officers said it was “shocking” neither Maguire nor his co-defendants had apologised.
Maguire was found guilty on Tuesday of assaulting a police officer, swearing, resisting arrest and attempted bribery at a court on the Greek island of Syros, following an incident on the neighbouring island of Mykonos last week.
Absolute no chance Harry will be apologising. Daisy and no one in the group was interviewed by the police 🙈🙈 pic.twitter.com/Ju8YIOyk1W— Laurence Maguire (@_lozmaguire) August 26, 2020
Harry Maguire, who was handed a suspended 21-month prison sentence, has already indicated his intention to appeal, while all the noises coming from United indicate he will remain as club captain.
Prosecution lawyer Yoannis Paradissis told BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme on Wednesday that an apology could lead to a different outcome in any appeal, but Chesterfield defender Laurence Maguire says his brother has no intention of doing so.
“Absolute no chance Harry will be apologising. Daisy and no one in the group was interviewed by the police,” he posted on Twitter.
The latter reference followed comments from Paradissis that Daisy Maguire, Harry and Laurence’s sister, had not mentioned anything about an injection she had been given when interviewed by police.
Maguire’s defence referred to the injection incident in the hearing on Tuesday.
Paradissis said: “(The police officers) told me they are still waiting for an apology and they haven’t had any. This is what I find quite shocking and quite unsporting.
“Fair play means when I’ve done something wrong I apologise or at least I say I am sorry for what happened to the other person.”
The impact of Maguire’s conviction is already being felt, with England manager Gareth Southgate withdrawing him from the squad for the Nations League matches against Iceland and Denmark next month, having initially selected him.
United have shown their support for the player and have said they will back his bid to secure an appeal. They mentioned in Tuesday’s statement that defence lawyer Alexis Anagnostakis and his team had been given “minimal time” to consider the charges and that a request to adjourn the trial had been denied.
Asked about Maguire’s claim in a statement on Tuesday that he was the victim, Paradissis said: “We don’t have the same definition of what a victim is then, because how can you be a victim and the policemen have been assaulted, hit, that were just doing their jobs?
“They went home on the day with injuries. How can they not be a victim?”
Asked whether Maguire and his co-defendants would have known the officers were police, Paradissis said: “Of course, because that’s the first thing they said. The police officers were there for other duties and they heard a brawl.
“So they heard some people fighting and went there to break up a fight. They said, ‘We’re police, stop fighting’. They were not in uniform but they showed their professional IDs.”
Maguire signed a boot deal with Puma worth a reported £700,000 a year last year.
The sportswear manufacturer declined to comment on whether Maguire’s conviction would have any impact on the deal when contacted by the PA news agency on Wednesday morning.
