Police have been accused of deliberately ignoring breaches of bail made by Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood while he was under investigation.
The 21-year-old was arrested at his home in January amid a series of allegations against the Manchester United forward, with a number of images and videos posted on social media.
He was suspended by the Premier League club, who confirmed he would not "return to training or play matches until further notice".
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After being released on bail, he was later charged with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Greenwood was due to stand trial in November but it was announced on Thursday by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) that all charges against him had been dropped.
In his first court appearance, it was revealed by prosecutor Rebecca Macaulay-Addison that Greenwood had breached a condition to not contact the alleged victim in the case, as reported by Evening Standard.
The 21-year-old’s lawyer David Toal went on to admit that the breach had indeed taken place.
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He told the court: “I absolutely concede it is his responsibility to abide by all bail conditions imposed.”
Later adding: “Contact has occurred for many months.”
However, Mr Toal went on to claim that the contact between Greenwood and the victim was ‘no secret’ to the Greater Manchester Police.
He argued that the breaches had been tacitly approved.
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The judge, Mark Hadfield, over the proceedings expressed concern over the revelations.
According to the Evening Standard, he said: “What I am being told is the defendant flagrantly breached the conditions over weeks or even months and police haven’t done anything about it.”
He insisted: “If they suspected breaches of bail, the police should be doing something about it but haven’t – why not?
“What’s the point of someone being on bail conditions if the police don’t enforce them?”
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The judge had denied bail to Greenwood at the October 17, 2022 hearing, however, it was overturned on appeal two days later at a private hearing.
The Greater Manchester Police released a statement confirming that Greenwood was no longer facing criminal proceedings.
"Given the significant media coverage of this case, it is only fair that we share the news that the 21-year-old man, who had been arrested and charged in connection with an investigation opened in January 2022, no longer faces criminal proceedings in relation to this," said GMP’s head of public protection, chief superintendent Michaela Kerr.
SPORTbible reached out to the Greater Manchester Police for comment.
Featured Image Credit: PA Images / Alamy. Anthony Devlin Photography / Alamy.Topics: Manchester United, Mason Greenwood