Man admits to blackmailing Rooney's wife

Published Aug. 30, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

A 28-year-old British man admitted his role in a plot to blackmail the wife of Manchester United soccer star Wayne Rooney during a court appearance Tuesday.

Lee Platt, 28, was accused of being a member of a gang of three who stole Coleen Rooney's cell phone — which contained pictures of the couple's son — and then demanded £5,000 ($8,100) for its return.

The gang allegedly threatened to sell the phone's memory card — which contained up to 100 photographs of the child — to national newspapers.

Platt, from Manchester in northwestern England, entered a guilty plea to blackmail and handling stolen goods during an appearance at Manchester Crown Court.

The two other accused — Jennifer Green, 25, and Steven Malcolm, 42, both from Manchester — entered not guilty pleas to the same charges.

Prosecutors allege that Coleen Rooney left her cell phone behind by accident when she attended a Black Eyed Peas concert in May last year. She was then allegedly contacted with a request for money to have the phone returned.