England’s friendly with Denmark is shaping up to be a typically useless exercise (especially if you paid $19.95 to watch it on DirectTV), so let’s instead turn our attention to something far more entertaining, courtesy of the Times’ Jenny Booth :
The England footballer Wayne Rooney could be the star witness in a libel trial after a grandmother accused of sleeping with him for cash today launched legal action against The Sun newspaper.
The newspaper claimed in August last year that Patricia Tierney, a 50-year-old grandmother of 16, had sex with Rooney at a Liverpool massage parlour.
But Mrs Tierney, of Whiston, Merseyside, claims she only worked at the parlour for three weeks as a part-time receptionist, and has never worked as a prostitute.
Rooney admitted sleeping with prostitutes after an article was printed in the Sunday Mirror. He released a statement saying he had been “young and stupid”.
The Sunday Mirror article did not name any prostitutes, but Mrs Tierney was named and photographed by The Sun, in a piece headlined “Don™t Fancy Yours Much Wayne”.
Her solicitor, David Kirwan, said the allegations had destroyed his “blameless” client™s life and caused her grandchildren to be bullied. He said: “These utterly false and damaging allegations in The Sun newspaper have had a massive impact on my client™s life and that of her family.
Indeed, anyone accused of having sex with Wayne Rooney — for free or otherwise — ought to take legal action.