UPDATE (September 16th 2021): Invictus Gaming’s UK Rainbow Six Siege coach Ellis ‘GiG’ Hindle has been cleared of assault, with no charges filed, after facing accusations earlier this year.
Greater Manchester Police said in a statement sent to SiegeGG: “The male arrested is no longer on police bail and has been released with no further action.”
GiG said: “From start to end I have been very private about this as I knew right away what was being said about me was nothing but lies.
“I can now move forward from this with no charges against me.”
GiG’s accusor Aimee Southern has not recently commented publicly on the situation. Following the below, she did post an update on Twitter saying what she had previously said was not the truth, however that was deleted shortly after it was posted.
UPDATE (June 25th): Esports News UK has received confirmation that GiG has been bailed until July 9th 2021. He will either be released facing no further action, re-bailed or charged. If he is charged, then he’ll be scheduled to appear in court.
Police said in a statement sent to Esports News UK: “On Thursday 29 April 2021, police received a report that a woman had been assaulted on Waterways Avenue, Trafford. The woman sustained minor injuries, which did not require treatment. A 21-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault. He has since been released on bail pending further enquiries.”
Original article (published June 23rd):
Greater Manchester Police are reviewing accusations of assault made against UK Rainbow Six Siege coach Ellis ‘GiG’ Hindle.
Esports News UK spoke to GiG (aka Kid Giggy) following a report by Dot Esports, which stated that his ex-girlfriend, Aimee Southern, filed a report to police on April 29th, which led to his apparent arrest on June 11th and further questioning.
Aimee claimed in this Twitlonger post that GiG had cheated on her, shouted at her and dragged her on several different occasions, sent her abusive messages, physically attacked her, bruised her arm, tried to force her to have sex with him, and sent explicit messages to girls aged 16. In the UK, the age of consent for sexual relations is 16, but there are laws to protect anyone up to 18 years old from ‘sexting’.
GiG responded at the time and, while he admitted he cheated on her and ‘spoke to her like shit at times’, disputed her other claims and said he had contacted the police with his side of the story.
He said: “This is a jealous, manipulative abuser who is trying her best to destroy my life and I’m not going to let that happen.”
However, it is worth noting these are accusations at this stage that have not yet been proven true, or false, and that GiG is pending prosecution on ‘suspicion of assault’. That means the police are currently reviewing evidence pending next steps.
Police confirmed to Esports News UK that ‘the 21-year-old man has been bailed until July 9th 2021’. GiG will either be released facing no further action, re-bailed or charged. If he is charged, then he’ll be scheduled to appear in court.
Esports News UK reached out to GiG to clarify a tweet he posted a few hours after Dot’s article went live:
Speaking to Esports News UK, GiG said: “There’s no court hearing – I’m going back to the police station on July 9th and they will let me know the next course of action after reviewing all the evidence.
“So far all they’ve done is taken my statement and are gathering evidence from me to support that. That’s all I know and all I’m prepared to talk about. I’m not interested in throwing screenshots or opinions around publicly. The police have all the evidence – I’ll wait for their professional opinion on it all before anything.”
In terms of what’s happening next, accuser Aimee Southern said: “I’m waiting to speak to the specialist sexual assault unit but the police are coming round to mine tonight (June 24th) to talk more about him getting his family to harass me [by sending abusive messages] as well.”
21-year-old GiG currently coaches the Invictus Gaming Rainbow Six team, and previously worked for MNM Gaming with the successful UK side that went on to win the Pro League with Navi.
“There’s no court hearing – I’m going back to the police station on July 9th and they will let me know the next course of action after reviewing all the evidence.”
Ellis ‘GiG’ Hindle, Invictus Gaming
Some members of the Rainbow Six community reacted negatively to the news, questioning the accusations on social media, while others defended the reporting. Esports News UK has spoken to other sources and seen claims that dispute some of the information around this case, which we will attempt to verify.
When asked by Esports News UK if she had altered any statements at any point, Aimee responded: “Before I went to the police, I tried to come out with this alone, so back in July/August time as of which I was met with similar abuse and things because of GiG, or as I know him Ellis.
“He made me issue an apology that I know people have screenshotted and are now using out of context against this case. I’ve not altered my statements since contacting the police back in October.”
GiG did not comment to Esports News UK on this, again referring to letting the police do their job.
Dot Esports says the police told them they had arrested a 21-year-old man in relation to the crime reference number provided to Dot by the accuser, Aimee Southern.
“On Thursday April 29th 2021, police received a report that a woman had been assaulted on Waterways Avenue, Trafford,” a Greater Manchester Police said in a statement to Esports News UK. “The woman sustained minor injuries, which did not require treatment. A 21-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault. He has since been released on bail pending further enquiries.”
SiegeGG is also reporting that ’10 or 11 messages, such as those calling her “the ‘C’ bomb” and those “about [her] mental health” will be used as evidence in prosecution under the UK’s Malicious Communications Act, according to Greater Manchester Police’.
This is a developing story. Esports News UK will continue to conduct further research as the case develops. We will update this article as more information comes to light following July 9th when GiG’s bail period is over.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
