MAN UNITED STAR MASON GREENWOOD ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF BREACHING BAIL CONDITIONS
Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood was arrested on Saturday morning for a second time on suspicion of breaching his bail conditions after he contacted his alleged victim, as per UK’s The Sun.
The 21-year-old England international was initially arrested in January on suspicion of rape, assault, and making threats before he was released on bail on February 2. Greenwood spent three consecutive nights in custody before he was bailed out and has kept a relatively low profile since. The Bradford-born forward is now back in police custody on suspicion of contacting his alleged victim, a breach of his bail conditions.
Greenwood is suspected to have contacted his alleged victim, his ex-girlfriend Harriet Robson, and currently follows her on social media. The two were reported to have followed each other on their Instagram pages on Friday, a subtle move that led fans to hope they had reconciled their differences and that Greenwood would be back on the pitch very soon.
The one-time Premier League 2 Player of the Month was interrogated by police after officers descended upon his £15,000-a-month mansion in Bowdon, Greater Manchester on Saturday morning. A spokesperson from the Greater Manchester Police said: “Greater Manchester Police are aware of an allegation regarding a 21-year-old man breaching his bail conditions and an arrest has been made on Saturday 15 October 2022. Enquiries are ongoing at this time.”
Manchester United have yet to comment on the latest developments regarding Mason Greenwood and the 5-foot-11 forward remains suspended by the club. United, however, still pay Mason Greenwood his £75,000-a-week salary pending the outcome of any criminal proceedings. The club released a statement in March confirming that nothing had changed regarding Greenwood’s situation after fans noticed that Greenwood remained listed as a member of the first-team squad on the club’s official website.
The statement read: “There has been no change whatsoever in Mason’s status. We removed his profile from the club app soon after he was removed from the squad in January. This was in order to remove Mason from interactive elements of the app, such as team predictions, etc. However, his profile was never removed from the website as he remains a Manchester United player, albeit not currently part of the squad while the legal process unfolds.”
The football star’s February 2nd bail was extended at a private hearing in June at Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court. His bail has now been extended twice, first on April 30th and then on June 23rd. Greater Manchester Police said in a statement then: “Following a hearing yesterday (Thursday 23 June 2022), a 20-year-old man arrested on suspicion of rape, assault, and making threats to kill on Sunday 30 January 2022 remains on bail. As the outcome of bail reviews does not impact the progression of investigations, Greater Manchester Police will not be providing any further updates in relation to this case until the suspect is charged or released facing no further action.”
Greater Manchester Police did not specify when his bail would run out after the closed court hearing in June.
Greenwood was also removed from FIFA 22 and dropped by sponsors such as Nike in the wake of the allegations. Football Manager 2022 also confirmed that the English forward will not feature in the game with all Manchester United merchandise featuring the no.11’s name being removed by the club from the official team site. Most of Greenwood’s United teammates have also unfollowed him on Instagram.
Greenwood became the youngest footballer to play for Manchester United in the Champions League at the age of just 17 years and 156 days, and the second-youngest player to represent the club in European competition behind only Norman Whiteside. The young forward has not played a game for the Red Devils since January 22nd when the team beat West Ham 1-0 in the Premier League at Old Trafford and has only made one appearance for the national team. England manager Gareth Southgate gave Greenwood his first cap when he came off the bench in a 1-0 win against Iceland back in 2020.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Kane Brooker. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.