Ashley Cole's lawyers have turned to the Internet to help find witnesses for the footballer's libel action against two tabloid newspapers.

Solicitors at central London firm Teacher Stern Selby set up a Web site called www.ashleycolesurvey.com, asking users to respond to a series of questions about articles that appeared in The Sun and the News of the World.


Graham Shear, the partner who acts for the Arsenal and England defender, began proceedings against the papers' publisher, News International, last week after speculation on Internet sites linking Mr Cole to stories about an allegedly bisexual unnamed Premiership footballer.


Links to the survey have been posted on other sites, including www.PinkNews.co.uk.


Mr Shear said: 'The intention was to use the Internet and the Web page to identify possible witnesses who had read the articles we are complaining about, and who would be willing to act in any possible trial.


'We are looking for confirmation of what people understood the articles to mean and how they came to believe they were referring to Ashley Cole.'


Mr Shear said he decided to try this approach to gathering evidence quickly in a bid to find potential witnesses while their recollections of the articles were fresh in their minds.


'This is a faster method of achieving the same result as going out into the street with a clipboard, which technology enables me to do,' he said.


Media law specialists said this was an unusual method to use in a libel case. Duncan Lamont, head of media at City firm Charles Russell, commented: 'It's innovative and it's not a bad idea, but it is not really necessary to do, from a legal perspective. I am not saying it's a PR stunt, but it may be a very effective way of achieving the result Mr Cole wants in terms of getting his image across.'


Alasdair Pepper, a partner at media firm Carter Ruck, said the idea was fine in principle, but warned that the value of the evidence could be affected by the way it is carried out.


News International declined to comment.