Rebekah Vardy says she was “scared to be out in public places” during her legal battle with Coleen Rooney, after receiving up to 100 abusive messages per day.

The 40-year-old, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, said some people “went the extra mile” to abuse her – even linking her with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and membership of the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror group.

She told The Sun: “The whole thing has been awful. At its worst, I was worried to be on my own, to leave the house. I was scared to be out in public places.

“Even the smallest things, like going shopping, were horrendous.”

She continued: “Everyone always says: ‘These people wouldn’t say things to your face’, but actually you do get the odd few that go that extra mile.

“The abuse I was getting was insane. At the beginning it would be 100 messages a day.”

“I was linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, people suggesting I was a member of IS, stuff like that.

“It was as if I’d murdered someone.”

Vardy said her husband had advised her not to read the messages that were sent to her, but that she found them hard to ignore when the abuse was directed at her family.

“When you subject my children to such vicious and disgusting hatred, it does get my attention and it is hurtful,” she said.

Vardy said she had subsequently increased her personal protection to include a full-time security chief at her home in Leicestershire.