ENGLAND’S Harry Maguire refused to pay a £50,000 “bribe” to make his Greek holiday brawl ordeal go away, it was claimed last night.
Yesterday the £190,000-a-week Manchester United defender lost a six-year fight to clear his name after a bust-up with police on the island of Mykonos in 2020.
He was repeatedly told paying £50,000 would end the case.
But he vowed to clear his name, with the retrial postponed four times between 2023 and 2025.
It restarted in Syros yesterday where three judges upheld the original verdict and handed him a 15-month suspended sentence.
Maguire, 33 today, branded the decision “a shambles” but said he would appeal to the Greek Supreme Court.
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A source close to the player told The Sun: “They offered to make it disappear if he paid £50,000.
“He would rather be found guilty than pay a bribe.
“No apology or payment will ever be made and Harry will clear his name.
“He won’t stop fighting until that happens and will go to the Supreme Court if he needs to.”
The source said lawyers for undercover cops involved in the late-night confrontation had repeatedly offered the out-of-court deal.
They added: “This has always been about paying money.
“He hasn’t paid a single penny and he never will.
“He stuck to his guns and his values and won’t budge.
“For six years they have repeatedly told us that this can be dealt with if he pays £50,000.
“The reason it’s gone this far is because Harry won’t do it.
“All will be revealed in his upcoming documentary.”
Another source said: “The translated statements from the police were primary school standard.
“It was pure guesswork just to figure out what they said had happened.”
Maguire last night started for the Red Devils at Newcastle United.
In August 2020 he was holidaying at a £29,000-a-week villa with wife, Fern, 32, his sister Daisy and six others, including his brother Joe.
The group had spent the evening in the Fabrika district and were waiting for a minibus when Daisy was allegedly approached by two Albanian men.
A confrontation blew up amid claims Daisy, who started drifting in and out of consciousness, had been injected with a date-rape drug.
The group got her into the minibus before asking the driver to take them to a hospital.
Minutes later they were pulled over by eight plain-clothed cops.
A shaken Maguire said at the time: “My initial thought was that we are being kidnapped.
“We got on our knees and put our hands in the air and then they just started hitting us in the legs, saying my career’s over, no more football, you won’t play again.
HARRY MAGUIRE MYKONOS BATTLE TIMELINE
“At this point I thought there was no chance these are police, I don’t know who they are, so I tried to run away, I feared for my life.
“They didn’t speak.
“They didn’t show us their badges.
“They didn’t do anything.
“They were just plain clothed.
“So I tried to run away.
“I had one hand in the handcuff.
“I was moving my hand.
“This is where the charges have come from — this is what they are saying is resisting arrest and this is what the assault is.
“No punches have been thrown.
“Literally, they are saying I hurt someone’s back because I was dragging my arm as I tried to run away because I didn’t know who these guys were.
“I don’t think I hurt him.
“Put it this way: I didn’t hurt him as much as they hurt me.”
One officer claimed Maguire and his brother tried to bribe officers.
Maguire, who categorically denies the allegation, spent two nights in a cell before being standing trial.
His defence team was given just two hours to prepare his case.
He was found guilty of repeated bodily harm, attempted bribery, violence against public employees and insulting behaviour and handed a suspended jail term of 21 months.
Brother Joe, 28, and pal Christopher Sharman, 29, were also convicted.
Maguire launched an immediate appeal which voided the original conviction.
But retrials were repeatedly delayed by the Greek courts — until yesterday.
The Syros appeal court judges convicted him of non-serious assault, resisting arrest and attempted bribery.
Outside court, prosecutor Ioannis Paradisis branded the player “a disgrace to his country and to football”.
He said: “His made-up story was not believed by the court and he was convicted again.
“Throughout he has been totally unrepentant and arrogant.
“We are still waiting for an apology.”
Maguire has been told he will be unable to launch another appeal.
But under Greek law he could be given leave to argue points of law at the higher Supreme Court.
The disastrous court ruling is unlikely to damage his hopes of playing at the World Cup this summer.
Those entering the US are required to disclose criminal convictions as part of the visa terms.
But a source said there would be no restrictions.
WHAT PROSECUTOR TOLD THE SUN….
‘His made-up story was not believed by the court and he was convicted again. Throughout he has been totally unrepentant and arrogant.
He is a disgrace to
his country and football too.
How can they have a player in the Premier League with a criminal record without being disciplined?
We are still waiting for an apology’
