Former Manchester United player, Gary Neville, will be referred to the Attorney General over an Instagram post he published during Ryan Giggs’ court trial.
Neville, now an entrepreneur and pundit, denied that the social media post was about the court case, with his agent telling the Daily Mail that he was referring instead to the Glazers’ ownership of Manchester United.
The jury in Ryan Giggs’ trial was discharged on Wednesday after failing to reach verdicts on any of the 3 charges that the ex-United player faced.
The Crown Protection Service has until next week to decide whether to pursue a retrial. Giggs denies all the charges.
On the post by Neville, presiding judge, Judge Manley stated in court:
“One other relevant matter I should deal with, on Wednesday the 10th of August, Day 3, the prosecution brought to my attention, a social media post.
“Both the prosecution and defence agreed with me, in the absence of any comment from the jury, and given my clear direction, the trial could properly continue.
“Given the author is a person with a high public profile and his social media account has 1.5 million followers, it could be seen to be an attempt to influence on-going criminal proceedings and could be contempt of court.
“Accordingly, I am referring the matter to the office of the Attorney General for the consideration of a potential prosecution.”
Contempt of Court can be punished by a fine or up to 2 years in prison.
Chris Daw QC, who is defending Giggs told the court that he wanted to make it “crystal clear” that the defendant didn’t have anything to do with the Instagram post.
The Attorney General’s office said they had not yet received the referral.
