England captain John Terry’s career was thrown into further doubt last night after it was revealed he got his team-mate’s girlfriend pregnant.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that French model Vanessa Perroncel, former partner of fellow England defender Wayne Bridge, had an abortion within months of the affair starting.
The pregnancy and termination are thought to have been the ‘consequences’ referred to by the High Court judge who threw out the £170,000-a-week footballer’s bid to seek a draconian gagging order to keep his affair secret.
Last night, the far-reaching implications of Terry’s extraordinary legal action were becoming clear.
There is now a strong belief among fans that Terry may have caused irreparable damage to England’s chances of success at the World Cup in South Africa in June.
Although he is seen as a vital member of the squad, his behaviour has turned him into a pariah and has deeply unsettled his team-mates.
There is anger, too, that his decision to use a super-injunction to try to prevent scrutiny of his actions has only served to exacerbate an already painful situation.
Rejecting Terry’s claim for the right to have a ‘private and family life’, the judge said he believed it was more likely Terry was trying to protect his reputation and business interests.
In his written judgment, Mr Justice Tugendhat referred to ‘details of such affair and/or relationship, including the consequences thereof’.
Although he as not explicit by what was meant by the ‘consequences’, the internet was yesterday buzzing with reports that it referred to Miss Perroncel’s abortion. When asked about it, Miss Perroncel’s publicity agent Max Clifford said: ‘No comment‘.
Friends said last night the termination was arranged by Terry and took place at a private clinic under clandestine circumstances. Miss Perroncel arrived and left the clinic via a back entrance.
Terry is now facing a showdown with England manager Fabio Capello, expected to take place today, which may well decide the course of his career.
But yesterday he appeared to put his private troubles behind him when he captained Chelsea in their Premiership clash against Burnley, scoring the winning goal in the 2-1 victory in the 82nd minute.
He was booed by the opposing home fans whenever he touched the ball, and endured their chants of: ‘Same old Terry, always cheating’ and the song: ‘Chelsea wherever you may be, don’t leave your wife with John Terry.’
Friends said Terry’s affair began soon after Miss Perroncel, a lingerie model, split from Bridge last summer. At first it was platonic, but became sexual in September. It is understood she became pregnant in October and had the termination weeks later.
‘John has known her for years and there was always something between them, a kind of flirtatious thing,’ a friend told The Mail on Sunday. ‘It used to upset John’s wife Toni.
‘After Vanessa and Wayne separated, John would go around to her house, initially at least, to offer support. Then it got a lot heavier very quickly.’
On Friday, after the gagging order was overturned in the High Court, Mrs Terry rang Miss Perroncel, who lives close to the couple’s £3million home in the footballers’ enclave of Oxshott, Surrey.
The two women had been close friends before the news of Terry’s infidelity broke and sources described their conversation as ‘extremely tense’.
Earlier that day, Miss Perroncel spoke for the first time about the affair to a Mail on Sunday reporter.
Describing how Terry’s secrecy bid backfired so spectacularly, she said that Bridge, the father of her three-year-old son, only learned about the liaison because of the court action.
‘Wayne rang me last weekend and started shouting at me and accusing me of having an affair,’ said Miss Perroncel. ‘It was terrible. He was saying horrible things.’
She said she told Bridge, 29, that she wasn’t having an affair ‘but he wouldn’t believe me’.
Earlier, she said: ‘Wayne was convinced I had been cheating on him because the court action had been taken. It was an agonising call and he was furious.
‘I am a close friend of his [John Terry’s]. We don’t talk everyday, but we are in touch a lot. I have known him for eight years, I even knew him before Wayne.
'He has been to my house. I am also a close friend of his wife and I phoned her last weekend to arrange for us to go out together.
‘I am friends with Frank Lampard’s ex-fiancee Elen as well. I don’t know what they are all going to think. It is a very close community of footballers and their wives here. I’m a single mother with a little boy to think about.’
Miss Perroncel’s £3 million mansion on an exclusive estate in Oxshott is a short drive from where Terry lives with 28-year-old Toni, his childhood sweetheart, and their three-year-old twins.
His mother and mother-in-law both live on the same road, while other neighbours include West Ham midfielder Scott Parker, Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole and England star Ashley Cole and his wife Cheryl.
Terry, 29, is believed to have spent yesterday explaining himself to his wife. Friends said that although Terry has been caught cheating before, his previous encounters had been much less serious and short-lived. ‘Toni will find this devastatingly painful,’ said one friend.
Meanwhile Terry also faces a backlash from players and fans. Bridge, once a close friend, is said to have made it clear in football circles that he will not travel with Terry to the World Cup if, as expected, he is selected for the squad.
News of the affair broke as Bridge and Miss Perroncel, who were together for three years, were struggling to sort out a settlement following their split six months ago. He moved to a £2million Edwardian mansion in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, while she remained in the marital home, after his transfer to Manchester City.
Speaking about the negotiations, Miss Perroncel said: ‘Wayne and I are trying to sort out a settlement and I have been told by lawyers not to say certain things because it could affect it. The house I am living in is the one that Wayne and I had. It is very sad.’
It is understood Terry was seen visiting his lover’s home in his green Bentley two weeks ago. A witness said he appeared to use an electronic ‘beeper’ to get through the security gates.
Toni and Vanessa became close friends in 2006 after the model started dating Bridge and last summer the two women went on a ‘girls’ break’ together.
In 2005, two years before his marriage to Toni, Terry said: ‘I’ve mis-behaved and slept with girls behind her back. I’m not going to cheat on her ever again and I want to marry her more than anything.’
But the day he was quoted, it emerged he had a fling with a blonde – and even borrowed Bridge’s house as a love nest.
The girl concerned, 25-year-old Shalimar Wimble, said at the time: ‘John never mentioned his fiancee Toni to me – I guess that’s why he took me to Wayne’s place.’
On Friday, Mr Justice Tugendhat said it was crucial that newspapers should not be prevented from reporting details of his philandering ways just because they were ‘socially harmful’.
It was also revealed in court that Terry tried to silence his former lover by getting her to sign a ‘confidentiality’ agreement. In documents disclosed by Terry’s lawyers, it was claimed that she was offered just £1 in return for signing the agreement.
But Judge Tugendhat said that it could have been a nominal sum and she might have been given more.
The deal was done at a hotel after Terry became concerned about rumours circulating in the football world a week ago.
He believed a newspaper was about to expose his secret, so on Friday January 22, two of Terry’s business partners met Vanessa at a London hotel and she signed two documents, the court heard.
The first was a short letter which said: ‘I agree to keep such information private and confidential’ and promising to pass any media inquiries on to one of Terry’s business partners.
The second document said she agreed to keep quiet, ‘in order to assist you in keeping such information confidential and in consideration of £1, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged’.
The judge said he was ‘troubled’ by the arrangement and in a scathing remark said: ‘Their business interest is to protect Terry’s reputation. I am left in serious doubt as to whether the information sourced through the business partners is full and frank.’
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