MUPPET!
RIO LOSES 'TEXT PEST' CASE
Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand has lost a complaint over claims he "bombarded" Abi Titmuss with text messages.
The Daily Star alleged "Text Pest Rio" was "Driving Abi Nuts" with his constant texting.
The England defender, who was banned from the game for eight months after failing to take a drugs test, denied the story.
He demanded the newspaper admit it was inaccurate and took the case to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).
But Ms Titmuss signed a statement backing up the newspaper's claims.
The PCC statement said: "Rio Ferdinand has continued to telephone and text me over a period of weeks in an attempt to persuade me to go out with him, despite the fact that I have made it quite clear that I do not wish to do so.
"I would not say that his attention had been initially unwanted.
"But it would be true to say that his advances have been unwanted since they continued long after I made it clear to him that I was not prepared to enter into a relationship with him."
Ferdinand claimed he had not sent Ms Titmuss text messages nor telephoned the former nurse.
The Star had offered to publish a statement making readers aware of Ferdinand's views but he rejected the offer.
The PCC rejected the complaint, saying both Ferdinand and Ms Titmuss had given them different versions of events.
It said Ms Titmuss's on-the-record statement gave the newspaper grounds for publishing the story.
But it criticised the paper for not contacting the footballer.
Titmuss is the former girlfriend of This Morning presenter John Leslie.