Rooney on a roll as conviction quashed

MANCHESTER United star Wayne Rooney’s dream week continued yesterday after a court overturned a driving conviction.

The €40 million striker, who scored a hat-trick on his debut for the club on Tuesday night, had been convicted at Liverpool Magistrates Court of driving without insurance and failing to produce his licence and documents. The case was heard in his absence last Monday.

The same court yesterday overturned the convictions after Rooney’s solicitor, Nick Freeman, explained that he had sent a fax asking for an adjournment but the case had gone ahead due to an administrative error.

Mr Freeman brought Rooney’s licence and documents to court and the prosecution agreed to take no further action and the convictions were withdrawn.

Rooney was pulled over by police in his BMW X5 car in Liverpool in May, and was ordered to produce his documents.

Outside court, Mr Freeman said: “The problem was that documentation is often kept with agents and it is not always easy to get your hands on it in time, and that is what happened with Wayne Rooney.

“The most important thing is that he did have the relevant insurance and licence and he was driving legally.”

Rooney did not attend yesterday’s hearing.

Mr Freeman is the Manchester-based solicitor who argued last week that police could not prove golfer Colin Montgomerie was at the wheel of his Mercedes car when it was clocked at 96mph in Esher, Surrey. Staines magistrates in south west London accepted Montgomerie’s plea of innocence and awarded him costs.

Also last week, Mr Freeman represented England and Gloucester rugby union player Henry Paul, who refused to give a specimen when stopped on suspicion of drink-driving in Cheltenham.

The case was thrown out by Cheltenham magistrates after Mr Freeman argued that police should have arranged a proper medical examination when Paul said he felt too ill to co-operate.

In 1999, Alex Ferguson was cleared of driving on a motorway hard shoulder after Mr Freeman argued the Manchester United boss was suffering diarrhoea and needed the immediate use of a lavatory.