Showing the strain: Cole faces three months on the sidelines after breaking his ankle
Ashley Cole became the latest England footballer to become mired in a sex scandal last night after naked pictures of him were allegedly sent to a glamour model.
Sonia Wild, 28, is said to have received explicit mobile phone pictures of the Chelsea full-back with raunchy text messages. She replied with images of herself.
The episode brings fresh embarrassment for the national team just days after John Terry was stripped of his captaincy over his affair with teammate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa Perroncel.
Last night, the footballer – who is married to X Factor judge Cheryl Cole – admitted taking the naked pictures of himself while staying in the England squad’s hotel.
But Cole, currently injured with a broken ankle that could jeopardise his World Cup hopes, denied he had sent them to the topless model.
He said he had been joking around and had forgotten to delete the images before giving the unregistered pay-as-you-go phone to a friend because there was still credit on it.
Cole, 29, told The Sun: ‘I can’t believe I gave a phone away that still had stuff in its memory. I thought I’d deleted it.’
He said someone must have used it to pretend to be him – and attempted to play down the incident, saying he would laugh if his foot didn’t hurt so much.
The allegation comes in the same week television presenter Vernon Kay admitted sending explicit messages to a topless model.
A source said that Cole – who earns £82,000 a week – was ‘horrified’ when he discovered the pictures of him had been sent to Miss Wild.
The footballer said he had given the phone to close friend Jay Wynters, but unknown to the football star, Mr Wynters passed it to another friend.
Sonia Wild: I recognised him
Last night, Cole was having to explain the situation to his 26-year-old wife. One of the images reportedly showed a shirtless Cole and was captioned: ‘I look so ugly x.’
Miss Wild, a single mother-of-two from Hull, said she didn’t believe at first that she was really texting the England defender – until she received a picture message of him lying in bed.
‘I recognised him straight away from the pictures I’d seen of him with his wife Cheryl, but couldn’t resist having a bit of fun,’ she said.
The model said the encounter came on June 9 last year, the night before England hosted Andorra in a critical World Cup qualifying match.
The flirty messages went on for more than a month and, she claims, he begged her to meet him in America, but she refused.
‘I had no idea it wasn’t Ashley Cole,’ she added.
In 2008, Cole’s marriage was rocked after hairdresser Aimee Walton claimed they had a one night stand.
Sending indecent images over a phone is an offence punishable by up to six months’ jail or a £5,000 fine.
ashley's nude pics? sorry but not interested.
cheryl's nude pics? i'm in for sure.
Originally posted by Poignant:ashley's nude pics? sorry but not interested.
cheryl's nude pics? i'm in for sure.
ashley nude pic for gals who interested in him
for cheryl one , i also in
Originally posted by Poignant:ashley's nude pics? sorry but not interested.
cheryl's nude pics? i'm in for sure.
ashley nude pic for gals who interested in him
for cheryl one , i also in
Tis was wat i also was exactly tinking aft reading tis story.
Cole's desperate or what?
terry confirmed cole rumor scandal.. who next?
As their marriage crisis deepened, the furious Girls Aloud star also BANNED the injured Chelsea star from Tuesday night's Brit awards - the biggest night of her career so far.
After learning Cole had taken naked mobile snaps of himself which then ended up being texted to topless model Sonia Wild, angry Cheryl, 26, asked for a rehearsal planned for tomorrow be brought forward to this afternoon. Referring to the circus surrounding her private life, confused Cheryl told friends: "I've had enough of all this!"
Last night a source revealed: "Cheryl was really looking forward to sharing Valentine's Day with Ashley.
"But at the last minute she requested the schedule be changed so she could practise her big performance and rehearse for hours instead.
"It's the most romantic day of the year so the fact she made the choice to work when she didn't have to says a lot about where her head is at."
Cole, laid up at the couple's Surrey mansion with a broken ankle, insists he did NOT send the saucy texts to busty Sonia, 28.
He swears the pictures were left on his phone when he gave it away to a pal, who then passed it on to a third man - and HE'S the one who did the dirty deed.
The scandal follows previous allegations that he cheated with a hairdresser.
But a friend of Cheryl told us: "She's incredibly confused and has been struggling with her emotions since finding out. Ashley was meant to be coming with Cheryl to the Brits on Tuesday. Even though he's badly hurt he'd have hobbled up the red carpet to support her on her big night, performing by herself in front of the entire industry for the first time. She wanted Ashley by her side.
"Just a week ago Cheryl was on top of the world and thought things were finally back on track after a tough couple of years. She'd been telling friends she was still madly in love with Ashley and said the marriage was stronger than it had ever been.
"But after hearing all the phone stuff she doesn't want him at the show. She knows how such a public snub will be seen but she just doesn't care any more."
Last night sources close to Cheryl rubbished claims her mum Joan Callaghan,49 - the only person the popstar says she truly trusts - had told her to leave Ashley.