RYAN Giggs faces jail over the gagging order he got to cover up an affair with glamour girl Imogen Thomas.
Ryan Giggs could be prosecuted for perjury if judges think he misled them about his happily-married family man status to obtain his injunction.
The crime carries a maximum sentence of seven years in jail.
Giggs, 37, gave a sworn statement to the High Court in London declaring why he believed an order should be granted to stop details of the alleged six-month fling being made public.
He relied on the fact he was married with two children whose privacy he wished to protect. The order was granted by Mr Justice Eady to stop Giggs or his family being named.
But his sister-in-law Natasha, 28, has since claimed she had a secret eight-year affair with him behind the backs of his wife Stacey, 32, and brother Rhodri, 34.
A third alleged lover is also understood to be considering telling all.
Lawyers say if Giggs is found to have deliberately withheld details of other affairs from the court he is open to prosecution.
D-Day for the £80,000-a-week star is November 7 when he will give evidence at a hearing to determine if the injunction should remain in place.
He is sure to be grilled by Mr Justice Eady over the alleged flings. And he will face a blast from Sir Alex Ferguson, 69, for disrupting United’s season, which will be well under way.
Legal sources claim Giggs will now be under pressure to drop his injunction fight, even though it could allow Imogen, 28, to tell her side of the story.
One senior lawyer said: “He’s now in a very difficult position.
“The real danger comes if he is ruled to have withheld information from the court when applying for the injunction. That could be deemed perjury.
“The UK courts have never shied away from pursuing similar prosecutions even in the most high-profile cases.’’
In 1999 former Chief Secretary to the Treasury Jonathan Aitken was jailed for 18 months for perjury during a libel trial.
Two years later Jeffrey Archer got four years after he lied in a defamation hearing against the Daily Star.
And five months ago Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan, 47, was sent to prison for three years for the same crime.
According to leading law firm Paris Swift, sworn affidavits are required from people requesting injunctions to stop them lying to obtain gagging orders.
Its website says: “The court places a degree of trust in the applicant to tell the entire story and, therefore, it is important to ensure that the applicant is not misleading the court.”
Last night Giggs was still in a Mediterranean hideaway with his wife mulling over the future of their marriage.
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