Two Men Jailed Over Rooney Blackmail Plot

Two men who tried to blackmail the wife of Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney have been jailed for a total of three years and eight months.

£5,000 was demanded from Coleen in return for her Samsung digital camera, which contained more than 400 photos on the memory card.

The photos showed the couple's son Kai, family holidays and their home and wider family, which were all touted for sale to newspapers and magazines.

Appearing at Manchester Crown Court, 29 year old Lee Platt, was jailed for two years after admitting blackmail and receiving stolen goods at an earlier hearing. His co-defendant, 42 year old Steven Malcolm, was jailed for 20 months for the same offences.

Platt got his hands on the memory stick of Mrs Rooney's camera, which went missing while she was watching the Black Eyed Pea's in concert at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester on May 24, 2010.

Platt's girlfriend,26 year old Jennifer Green, was sentenced to a 12-month community order and told to perform 40 hours of unpaid work after admitting assisting in the retention of stolen goods.

Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said Coleen Rooney made a victim impact statement last week.

She said: “She indicates that she would use her camera to take personal photographs. Photographs not intended to reach the media, purely private photographs. She realised when she left the concert she no longer had the camera and it was reported stolen.

She added Mrs Rooney said it was “upsetting “ to receive a request for money during a period of “unwanted media activity” for her husband.

“What was particularly distressing was that the family pictures were of no relevance to anyone else other than her and her family,” she continued. “And it was said that the pictures showed her husband in some state which was untrue and caused her distress.”