Last minute evidence causes case to collapse
A libel claim brought by a Merseyside grandmother in relation to allegations published in The Sun that she was a prostitute and slept with Wayne Rooney while working at a brothel has been struck out.
Patricia Tierney, a mother of seven, said that she worked as a receptionist at the brothel for four weeks during 2004, but denied that she had ever worked as a prostitute. Last week, The Sun obtained a statement made to the police in May 2002 in which Mrs Tierney admitted that she was a sex worker and worked at the brothel. Following this Mrs Tierney’s legal advisers withdrew from the case.
An application to have the claim struck out was heard on Monday – the day that the two-week trial had been due to start. Mr Justice Clarke rejected Mrs Tierney’s submission that she could not read and had not known what she was signing when she made the 2002 complaint to the police. Striking the claim out and awarding indemnity costs to the defendant, Clarke J described the libel claim as “conceived in falsehood and continued in deceit”.
Links
- Libel case over Rooney thrown out – BBC website
- Rooney prostitute exposed as a liar – The Times
- Rooney libel case collapses over woman’s vice-girl past – The Independent
- Rooney sex libel case dismissed – The Guardian
- Sun libel victory as Wayne Rooney prostitute case is thrown out – Press Gazette