The exclusive pictures and video footage of the 
smashed Ferrari of Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo were taken by an enterprising Manchester Evening News reporter using her mobile phone.
The crash, just days before this weekend’s Premier League showdown at Old Trafford against Chelsea, has led to reports today that Ronaldo has rendered himself uninsurable, even if he were to take to driving a Ford Fiesta.
Crime reporter Nicola Dowling used a Nokia N95 phone for images which were later sold to a variety of national media outlets including Sky News, the BBC and The Sun.
The pictures were also used on the front page of the newspaper and on the MEN website, while the video footage was used both on the site and on local TV outlet Channel M. Intriguingly, when sent on the assignment, Dowling was accompanied by a staff photographer.
“As soon as we got the tip-off I and a photographer headed down there,” Dowling told HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk. “I got down there before the scene had been properly secured and I was able to snap off a lot of pictures on my mobile and take some video footage as well.”
The phones were issued to all MEN reporters last year as part of the move towards a multimedia newsroom.