Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood is due to face trial over allegations of attempted rape, assault and controlling and coercive behaviour in November 2023, a court has heard.
The 21-year-old player was held in January over allegations relating to a woman after videos were posted online.
He was re-bailed at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, ahead of a pre-trial hearing on 10 February 2023.
The court also set a trial date for 27 November 2023.
The footballer spoke only once to confirm his name, address and date of birth at the start of proceedings.
His sister and parents were both in court for the hearing, which lasted under 10 minutes.
The court was told the trial is expected to be held over 10 days.
The footballer was previously granted bail at the same court in October, with conditions not to contact witnesses, including the complainant, and to reside at an address in Bowdon, Greater Manchester.
The attempted rape is alleged to have taken place in October 2021, while the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm is dated December 2021.
The controlling and coercive behaviour charge relates to a period between November 2018 and October 2022, where Mr Greenwood is alleged to have made threatening and derogatory comments towards the complainant, as well as accessing and monitoring her social media accounts.
Within hours of the allegations surfacing online at the beginning of the year, Mr Greenwood was suspended from playing or training with the Old Trafford club.
Sports firm Nike suspended and later terminated its sponsorship deal with the player, while video game company Electronic Arts confirmed his removal from active squads on its Fifa 22 football simulation.
Shamima Begum, the jihadi bride, was trafficked by ISIS for sexual exploitation, her lawyers have told a hearing to appeal against her deprivation of citizenship.
She launched her main appeal against the decision, with her lawyers telling a tribunal: "Shamima Begum is a young Muslim woman, someone about who everyone can give an opinion."
Samantha Knights KC, for Ms Begum, told the first day of a five-day hearing at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that they faced an "overwhelming impediment" to make her case.
Her lawyers have compiled a series of experts to give evidence, including doctors and psychologists, who are experts in assessing how the adolescent mind affects judgment.
Ms Begum was a "British child aged 15 who was persuaded by a determined and effective ISIS propaganda machine to follow a pre-existing route and provide a marriage for an ISIS fighter," Ms Knights told the tribunal.
Her transfer into Syria, across the Turkish border, was assisted by a Canadian double agent, her lawyer added.
Ms Begum, now 23, left Britain with two friends from the Bethnal Green Academy in East London, who are thought to have been killed in the conflict.
More on Shamima Begum
Related Topics:
She was captured following the collapse of ISIS in January 2018 and taken to the al-Hawl detention camp, before being transferred to the al-Roj camp, where she has disavowed the terrorist group and said she wants to return home.
However, she was stripped of her British citizenship on the grounds of national security in February 2019 amid a political row over whether she was a dual British and Bangladeshi citizen.
Advertisement
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:44
'I didn't hate Britain, I hated my life' - Begum
Begum was 'cynically recruited and groomed'
Her lawyers also said Ms Begum was "cynically recruited and groomed" by ISIS so that she could be married off to an older man within days of arrival in their territory.
"The evidence is overwhelming that she was recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria by ISIS for the purpose of sexual exploitation and marriage to an adult male - and she was, indeed, married to an adult, significantly older than herself, within days of her arrival in Syria, falling pregnant soon after," they said.
Ms Begum, who was 15 years old when she arrived in Syria, and "therefore not able to consent to marriage or sexual activity", was "married off" on or about February 20 2015 - 10 days after her arrival in Syria to Yago Reidijk, a Dutch national who was "considerably older," they added.
Ms Knights told the tribunal it is here that she is being "held in conditions of indefinite detention by a non-state actor, prevented from all access to her by lawyers and independent experts and, to her detriment, unrestricted access has been given to her by the press."
Home Office witness gives evidence
She called the case "extraordinary" and said Sajid Javid, the home secretary who deprived her of her citizenship, had taken "over hasty steps" less than a week after Ms Begum gave her first interview from detention in Syria to the Times.
Mr Javid then fed commentary, including an article written by himself, into the process, Ms Knights said.
"That is in direct contrast to the precautionary approach set out by our experts on how to assess the decisions, thoughts, and behaviour of an adolescent involved during her teenage years in a child marriage," she added.
The home secretary's duty to protect the public was not "monolithic" and required "wider context" as well as the consideration about the "safeguarding of victims" of trafficking, Ms Knights said.
Philip Larkin, a witness for the Home Office, told the hearing that there had been "no formal conclusion" on whether Ms Begum was the victim of human trafficking.
He accepted that Ms Begum must have had helped to cross the border, telling the tribunal: "Any individual who travelled illegally across the Turkish Syrian border would have needed assistance to make that trip."
But he declined to say whether she had been "recruited" was the victim of "sexual exploitation."
In July last year, the Supreme Court ruled against the Court of Appeal which had said that she should be allowed to return as the risk of her launching an attack could be "addressed and managed".
MI5: 'inconceivable' Begum did not know what she was doing
MI5 said Ms Begum was an A-star pupil and it was "inconceivable" that she did not know what she was doing.
Witness E was asked whether the Security Service considered trafficking in their national security threat of Ms Begum and told the tribunal: "MI5 are experts in national security and not experts in other things such as trafficking - those are best left to people with qualifications in those areas.
"Our function was to provide the national security threat to the Home Office and that is what we did.
"We assess whether someone is a threat and it is important to note that victims very much can be threats if someone is indeed a victim of trafficking."
He added: "In our opinion it is inconceivable that someone would not know what ISIL was doing as a terrorist organisation at the time."
Officers say the child was travelling in a Vauxhall Meriva which collided with a Porsche Boxter sportscar being driven by the man. One of the vehicles flipped over and burst into flames.
Two other adults in the Vauxhall suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.
An appeal for witnesses and dashboard camera footage was launched this afternoon. The collision occurred at around 5:50pm yesterday and closed the motorway overnight. Two lanes of the southbound carriageway are still closed awaiting emergency resurfacing repairs which will be carried out this evening.
Police confirm girl, 3, among two who died in M6 crash
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said this afternoon: "Officers were called around 5.49pm yesterday (November 19) to reports of a collision between two cars on the southbound carriage between junctions 29 and 28.
"Sadly, a three-year-old girl and a 79-year-old man suffered fatal injuries. Our thoughts are with their families at this sad and distressing time and they will be supported by specially-trained officers.
"We believe a Porsche Boxster car driven by the 79-year-old man collided with a Vauxhall Meriva car in which the young girl was travelling. Two adults in the Vauxhall Meriva suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.
"The motorway was shut for several hours while the collision was investigated and for repairs to the carriageway."
M6 was still expected to be partially blocked almost 24 hours after crash.
Sgt Craig Booth, serious collision investigator, said: “These are very sad and tragic circumstances. This was a traumatic scene for all witnesses and emergency services involved. I would like to pass on my thanks for their dedication in dealing with an incident which can only be described as horrific.”
Anyone with information or who has footage, please contact 101 – quoting log 1102 of November 19.
This afternoon there were still tailbacks of up to four miles north of the collision site with vehicles delayed by around 45 minutes.
Motorists trapped in the tailbacks last night between junctions 29 and 28 took to social media overnight to condemn "heartless" drivers who used the hard shoulder to get past.
One said he had dashcam footage of the "disrespectful" drivers and would be handing it to police for action to be taken against them.
UK firms should be "looking to the British workforce" rather than relying on immigrants to fill jobs post-Brexit, a minister has said.
Ahead of its annual conference, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Tony Danker, has called on the government to use immigration to solve worker shortages in the UK, saying it must be "practical" on the issue.
And he said taking this approach would help the UK economy grow.
But immigration minister Robert Jenrick disagreed, telling Sky News' Kay Burley that companies should be looking closer to home first.
Brexit stopped many foreign workers being able to easily work in the UK and companies are struggling to recruit - especially in industries such as hospitality which has relied heavily on European staff in recent years.
Despite four quarterly falls this year, overall vacancies remain high at more than 1.2 million.
More on Uk Economy
Related Topics:
In August to October 2022 they were 429,000 (54%) above pre-pandemic levels of early 2020, and 32,000 (2.7%) higher than a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Mr Danker, who will give a speech at the CBI event later, told Sky News: "This should be a very simple system. What are the jobs we need to fill, number one?
Advertisement
"Number two: have we got British workers to fill them? And number three, if we don't, let's use immigration on a fixed term basis - just fixed term visas to plug the gaps until British workers are ready to do the jobs.
"That's not how our immigration system works today, and that's why it's not helping us with our growth problem."
Image:Tony Danker will also call for action on the Northern Ireland Protocol
Mr Jenrick said the government would "listen to the business community" and was "aware of certain skills shortages", adding: "We want a pragmatic, sensible relationship with business.
"But overall, our ambition is to reduce net migration. We think that's what the British public want. That was one of the driving forces in the vote to leave the European Union back in 2016, and it's simply not true to say that we've adopted a sort of closed door approach since then."
Mr Jenrick pointed to schemes like visas for health and social care workers, and said more than 300,000 work visas were issued last year "to people who had a certainliving standard so they could look after themselves and not rely too heavily on the state" and would cover so-called shortage occupations.
"I think that's the right approach, rather than drawing on lower skilled workers," he added.
Image:Immigration minister Robert Jenrick says businesses should be looking at training British workers
"And if I was a business manager, I would be looking to the British workforce in the first instance, seeing how I could get local people into my business, train them up, skill them to do the job."
The minister also said there were five million "economically inactive" people in the UK, "and the government's first duty is to help as many of them as possible into the workforce".
Chancellor's statement 'incredibly welcome'
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to be in attendance at the Birmingham conference and give a speech of his own focusing on innovation, just days after his chancellor unveiled £25bn of tax raises.
Mr Danker is set to praise the chancellor's autumn statement as "incredibly welcome" - and thank him for "staying the course" on infrastructure projects such as HS2 rail and the Sizewell C nuclear plant.
But he told Sky News the autumn statement was about stabilising markets, not about how the economy is going to grow - something he hoped the prime minister would talk about later.
And with the UK looking destined for recession and stagnating growth, he will say in his speech that more needs to be done.
"The painful reality about growth is that it can't be stimulated overnight. That's what the mini-budget got wrong," Mr Danker will tell delegates.
Brexit concerns will also be in his speech, with the CBI boss expected to urge changes to regulations and red tape, saying: "I know that some Conservative politicians today feel that this issue is the fault of Europe.
"But the biggest regulatory barriers facing businesses today are based on British laws, created by a British parliament, and administered by British regulators."
"Get round the table, do the deal, unlock the Trade and Co-operation Agreement. I say to Brexiteers, the best guarantor of Brexit is an economy that grows. Its biggest risk is one that doesn't," the CBI chief will say.
"Now I know that some of these things will not be popular with politicians.
"But while, I have no problem with government taking tough choices to bring stability, I want them to also take tough choices for growth."
'No to Swiss-style Brexit'
His remarks come amid reports over the weekend that the government is looking to pursue a "Swiss-style" relationship with the EU to free up trade.
Brexiteers have reacted angrily to the rumours, but Downing Street has categorically denied it and Mr Jenrick echoed that sentiment this morning.
He told Sky News: "I don't know where the story came from in the Sunday papers. It's not one that we recognise and we're going to stick with the relationship that we've secured.
"That doesn't mean that we're not interested in improving our trading relations with the European Union or indeed in my sphere, our security and migration partnership with the European Union.
"But we're not going to reopen the discussions that we had a few years ago. We have a settled view and we're moving forwards on that basis."
Last year, in another Sky interview, she said she wanted to go on trial in the UK and invited British officials to question her in prison.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:44
'I didn't hate Britain, I hated my life' - Begum
However, a succession of Conservative home secretaries have insisted she is a potential danger and should not be allowed back in the UK.
Her lawyer, Tasnime Akunjee, previously said in a statement that "one of the main arguments will be that when former home secretary Sajid Javid stripped Shamima Begum of her citizenship leaving her in Syria, he did not consider that she was a victim of trafficking".
"The UK has international obligations as to how we view a trafficked person and what culpability we prescribed to them for their actions," Mr Akunjee added.
The other girls who left for Syria with Ms Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, are believed to be dead.
Officers say the child was travelling in a Vauxhall Meriva which collided with a Porsche Boxter sportscar being driven by the man. One of the vehicles flipped over and burst into flames.
Two other adults in the Vauxhall suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.
An appeal for witnesses and dashboard camera footage was launched this afternoon. The collision occurred at around 5:50pm yesterday and closed the motorway overnight. Two lanes of the southbound carriageway are still closed awaiting emergency resurfacing repairs which will be carried out this evening.
Police confirm girl, 3, among two who died in M6 crash
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said this afternoon: "Officers were called around 5.49pm yesterday (November 19) to reports of a collision between two cars on the southbound carriage between junctions 29 and 28.
"Sadly, a three-year-old girl and a 79-year-old man, suffered fatal injuries. Our thoughts are with their families at this sad and distressing time and they will be supported by specially-trained officers.
"We believe a Porsche Boxster car driven by the 79-year-old man collided with a Vauxhall Meriva car in which the young girl was travelling. Two adults in the Vauxhall Meriva suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.
"The motorway was shut for several hours while the collision was investigated and for repairs to the carriageway."
M6 was still expected to be partially blocked almost 24 hours after crash.
Sgt Craig Booth, serious collision investigator, said: “These are very sad and tragic circumstances. This was a traumatic scene for all witnesses and emergency services involved. I would like to pass on my thanks for their dedication in dealing with an incident which can only be described as horrific.”
Anyone with information or who has footage, please contact 101 – quoting log 1102 of November 19.
This afternoon there were still tailbacks of up to four miles north of the collision site with vehicles delayed by around 45 minutes.
Motorists trapped in the tailbacks last night between junctions 29 and 28 took to social media overnight to condemn "heartless" drivers who used the hard shoulder to get past.
One said he had dashcam footage of the "disrespectful" drivers and would be handing it to police for action to be taken against them.
Officers say the child was travelling in a Vauxhall Meriva which collided with a Porsche Boxter sportscar being driven by the man. One of the vehicles flipped over and burst into flames.
Two other adults in the Vauxhall suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.
An appeal for witnesses and dashboard camera footage was launched this afternoon. The collision occurred at around 5:50pm yesterday and closed the motorway overnight. Two lanes of the southbound carriageway are still closed awaiting emergency resurfacing repairs which will be carried out this evening.
Police confirm girl, 3, among two who died in M6 crash
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said this afternoon: "Officers were called around 5.49pm yesterday (November 19) to reports of a collision between two cars on the southbound carriage between junctions 29 and 28.
"Sadly, a three-year-old girl and a 79-year-old man, suffered fatal injuries. Our thoughts are with their families at this sad and distressing time and they will be supported by specially-trained officers.
"We believe a Porsche Boxster car driven by the 79-year-old man collided with a Vauxhall Meriva car in which the young girl was travelling. Two adults in the Vauxhall Meriva suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Royal Preston Hospital for treatment.
"The motorway was shut for several hours while the collision was investigated and for repairs to the carriageway."
M6 was still expected to be partially blocked almost 24 hours after crash.
Sgt Craig Booth, serious collision investigator, said: “These are very sad and tragic circumstances. This was a traumatic scene for all witnesses and emergency services involved. I would like to pass on my thanks for their dedication in dealing with an incident which can only be described as horrific.”
Anyone with information or who has footage, please contact 101 – quoting log 1102 of November 19.
This afternoon there were still tailbacks of up to four miles north of the collision site with vehicles delayed by around 45 minutes.
Motorists trapped in the tailbacks last night between junctions 29 and 28 took to social media overnight to condemn "heartless" drivers who used the hard shoulder to get past.
One said he had dashcam footage of the "disrespectful" drivers and would be handing it to police for action to be taken against them.
