Until this week, Dave Burrows was just getting on with his life working in a joiners shop in Manchester.

Then came *that* bombshell statement from Coleen Rooney, which detailed how she’d gone about uncovering why fake stories she had planted on her private Instagram account were turning up in the tabloid press. 

Coleen’s reps have insisted that it is “irrefutable” that the stories “came from one account, and one account only”, after she suggested Rebekah Vardy’s Instagram account was behind the leaks – something Vardy has vehemently denied she’s had anything to do with.

Coleen was immediately hailed a super sleuth on Twitter and the hashtag #WagathaChristie began trending, but the footballer’s wife had a man she had never even met to thank for helping her get to the bottom of things.

Back in January, Coleen claimed someone was behind leaking a fake tabloid story about her being involved in a car crash.

Her tweets prompted Dave to respond, suggesting a way she could catch the culprit.

“Make a false story tell people different things see which one comes out = find the culprit,” he tweeted.

Talking exclusively to HuffPost UK, Dave says he’d forgotten all about the advice he’d given Coleen at the start of the year.

“Looking back, as it’s been nine months now, I never really thought much of it,” he tells us.

The joiner was at work when the story broke, but didn’t click that he might have played a part in the drama that had the whole country talking, until his phone began to go wild.

“I saw my Twitter and thousands of people were thanking me and texting saying ‘that’s the greatest assist the Rooneys have ever had’,” he explains. “My phone is still going crazy now. It’s had over half a million activities.” 

One person Dave would love to hear from is Coleen’s husband, footballer Wayne, who he describes as a “legend”.

“If I did help [then] yes, I’d like to hear something… maybe off Wayne as well as he’s a legend to me. 

“Maybe a simple message or a signed top or boots to recognise and say ‘thanks, your advice helped’.”

And what advice would he give Coleen if he got the chance to meet or speak to her?

“My advice for Coleen… I would say maybe it’s betrayal, but also to move that aside. Her family life is her main objective and to move on now she knows the truth,” he says.

But Dave, who has since changed his Twitter name to ‘Detective Dave’, believes there isn’t much hope for Coleen’s friendship with Rebekah.

“No chance,” he says. “She’s caused too much agony for their family. I think their friendship has gone now. WAGs at war it seems.”