STUNNED Wayne Rooney learned his dad and uncle had been arrested over an alleged betting con as he was about to board a jet to Montenegro with the England team yesterday.
A relative called him at Luton airport to say: "Wayne, your dad's been nicked." Wayne Snr is suspected over a £100,000 football sting.
He was arrested yesterday at the £450,000 home the soccer hero bought for his parents.
Suspect ... Rooney's dad Wayne Snr
The 48-year-old dad, also called
Wayne, was one of nine men
held by cops probing an alleged £100,000 football betting scam.
The investigation is centred
around "suspicious" bets
placed on a
player being sent off during
a Scottish Premier League
game between Motherwell
and Hearts last December.
Motherwell player Steve Jennings,
who was given a red card
for swearing at referee
Stevie O'Reilly towards
the end of the match,
was among those arrested. Rooney's uncle Richie, 54, was another.
A relative called with the news. But Manchester United striker Rooney, 25,
went ahead with the flight to Montenegro, who England play in tonight's
Euro 2012 qualifier in Podgorica.
A friend said: "The arrests came as a complete shock to Wayne.
He knew nothing about any of the allegations and certainly had
nothing to do with them.
"He'll be very upset because he is very supportive of his family.
Suspect ... Wayne Rooney's uncle Richie
"He never forgets it was their sacrifices and time that helped him to fulfil his footballing talent."
The arrests follow a nine-month investigation by police in Liverpool and Scotland, carried out in co-operation with the Gambling Commission.
Cops swooped on several addresses and Wayne Snr was held at the home — bought by Rooney in December 2008 — he shares with wife Jeanette in the plush West Derby area of Liverpool.
Richie, who runs a boxing club, was arrested after cops in two vans arrived at his home in Norris Green, Liverpool, just after 7am.
Liverpool-born Jennings, 26, was collared at his Glasgow home.
He was sent off in the crucial game for haranguing the ref — his second bookable offence — after a penalty appeal was rejected. But he insists he has done nothing wrong.
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