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| Libel case over Rooney thrown out | |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| A grandmother suing the Sun over claims she had sex with footballer Wayne Rooney while working as a prostitute has had her case thrown out of court. | A grandmother suing the Sun over claims she had sex with footballer Wayne Rooney while working as a prostitute has had her case thrown out of court. |
| Patricia Tierney, 52, from Whiston, claimed libel damages saying an article from 2004 featured "horrible lies" that destroyed her reputation and life. | |
| But at Manchester County Court it emerged that she had admitted being a sex worker in a police statement. | |
| The Sun's counsel showed the court the witness statement made in May 2002. | |
| Mrs Tierney claimed she had only ever worked as a receptionist at Diva's massage parlour in Liverpool. | |
| Sex worker | |
| However, in the police statement she said she worked as a sex worker because she needed the money, but kept her job a secret from her family. | |
| She told officers she had a "dual role" as a receptionist with housekeeping duties. | |
| Adding: "On other days I would act as a sex worker. My role would be to provide sex services to clients." | |
| Her solicitors withdrew from the case on Friday after the police statement came to light. | |
| Mrs Tierney represented herself at Manchester County Court on Monday and asked the judge, Mr Justice Christopher Clarke, to adjourn the hearing while she sought alternative legal representation. | |
| 'Central plank' | |
| Instead Mr Justice Clarke dismissed the case. | |
| In his ruling he said: "In light of that statement, it's plain that the central plank of the claimant's case that she was not, and never had been, a prostitute and worked only as a receptionist is not true, and that the claim that she was not a liar was false and was known to be so." | |
| Mrs Tierney told the court she could not read, the police statement misrepresented what she had told the officer and that she did not know what she was signing. | |
| However, the judge said he was "satisfied" the statement reflected what Mrs Tierney had told police. | |
| The Sun's barrister, Anthony Hudson, said Mrs Tierney's claim amounted to between £750,000 and £250,000 damages for her and £500,000 legal fees, which the Sun would have had to pay if she won her case. | |
| Before the case, Wayne Rooney had been told he might be called as a witness. |