EXCLUSIVE: Smiling Rebekah Vardy is seen for first time since a court heard she faces paying up to £1.5m towards Coleen Rooney’s Wagatha Christie legal fees as she goes for dog walk with daughter Olivia Grace
- Wag looked relaxed as she strolled around a picturesque Lincolnshire Park with her three-year-old, Olivia
- Rebekah, who wore a brown coat, black trousers and a white wooly hat, smiled as she chatted with youngster
- ‘Tense times’ lie ahead for Rebekah as she faces paying off a £3.7m legal bill following Wagatha Christie loss
A smiling Rebekah Vardy was seen enjoying the sun this morning as she walked the dog with her toddler daughter in the WAG’s first public appearance since being ordered to pay £800,000 towards her rival Coleen Rooney’s legal costs.
The 40-year-old looked relaxed as she strolled around a picturesque Lincolnshire park with three-year-old Olivia and an enormous German Shepherd while taking in the sights, which includes a large herd of fallow deer.
Rebekah, who wore a long brown coat, black trousers and a white wooly hat, smiled and laughed as she chatted to the youngster during the short outing.
‘Tense times’ lie ahead for Rebekah as she faces paying legal bill that could end up being around £3.5million following her Wagatha Christie trial loss – with money she already owes to The Sun threatening to push the total over £4million.
The final costs have not been confirmed and could be subject to a detailed cost assessment if the parties can’t agree what should be paid.
Rebekah Vardy looked relaxed as she strolled around the park with three-year-old Olivia and an enormous German Shepherd while taking in the sights, which includes a large herd of fallow deer
This morning’s outing was the WAG’s first public appearance since being ordered to pay £800,000 towards her rival Coleen Rooney’s legal costs
Rebekah appeared to be on the phone briefly after she stepped out of her 4X4 with Olivia, who was born in 2019
Rebekah, who wore a long brown coat, black trousers and a white wooly hat, smiled and laughed as she chatted to the youngster
Rebekah and Olivia strolling around the park, which offers hundreds of acres of picturesque walks
Rebekah has been involved in a bitter war of words with her WAG rival Coleen after their Wagatha Christie row went public
Tense times’ lie ahead for Rebekah as she faces paying off a huge legal bill following her Wagatha Christie trial loss
A source told The Sun that the costs were going to hit wife of Leicester City star Jamie Vardy hard and that it is a ‘tense time for her’ as she waits to hear when she will be expected to pay the rest of the money to Coleen.
The source said: ‘Becky losing the libel trial is going to hit her pocket hard. Understandably she’s not happy about it.
‘Becky is waiting to find out how much more she’ll be asked to fork out after her first payment. It’s a tense time for her, especially when she just wants to draw a line in the sand and move on.’
Rebekah taunted her rival Coleen with a series of Instagram post last night saying she should donate the money she owes her to charity.
She shared a picture of a money jar labelled ‘charity’ along with an extract from a report of the libel trial saying: ‘She’d be far happier to see the money they would have spent on lawyers being used in a more positive and productive way.’
Rebekah has also written on the picture herself, telling Coleen: ‘Let’s hope you put your money where your mouth is and some good can come of this whole embarrassing spectacle!’
But a team Rooney insider told The Mirror: ‘It’s a bit rich to be preaching about money when Coleen wanted to settle this before the costs started racking up.’
Coleen also said following her victory: ‘I never believed it should have gone to court at such expense in times of hardship for so many people when the money could have been far better spent helping others.’
Rebekah was seen laughing as Olivia took turns walking their enormous German Shepherd
The final costs Rebekah will have to pay may be subject to a detailed cost assessment
The upcoming legal bill did not appear to be on Rebekah’s mind this morning, with the WAG looking relaxed as she enjoyed some quality time with her daughter
Rebekah has been involved in a bitter war of words with her WAG rival Coleen after their Wagatha Christie row went public
The Vardy’s family home is in the Lincolnshire countryside
Tense times’ lie ahead for Rebekah as she faces paying off a huge legal bill following her Wagatha Christie trial loss
Despite the looming legal bill, Rebekah looked relaxed during this morning’s stroll on a sunny day in Lincolnshire
Rebekah, who wore a long brown coat, black trousers and a white wooly hat, smiled and laughed as she chatted to the youngster
This morning’s outing was the WAG’s first public appearance since being ordered to pay £800,000 towards her rival Coleen Rooney’s legal costs
Rebekah Vardy shared the above picture on her Instagram, urging Coleen Rooney to donate the legal costs she must pay her rival to charity
Defeated Rebekah Vardy posted a cryptic Instagram story after it emerged she will have to pay Coleen Rooney’s legal costs
Mrs Rooney posted on Instagram accusing Mrs Vardy of leaking stories to The Sun newspaper following her own months-long ‘sting operation’
Friends have suggested Mrs Vardy may be forced to sell the family’s beloved Portuguese luxury villa on the exclusive golf resort of Quinta do Lago, which they call their ‘sanctuary’. The property, which has three pools, a gym, steam room and six bedrooms, is thought to be worth in the region of £2million and is available for rent for up to £30,000 per week. Mrs Vardy has made it clear she will not appeal the case.
Vardy was accused of deliberately deleting WhatsApp messages central to the case as it was suggested her agent also intentionally dropped her phone in the North Sea.
Mrs Vardy and her footballer husband were left with the bill after Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in favour of Mrs Rooney in a judgement that said swathes of her evidence given under oath had been ‘manifestly inconsistent’, ‘not credible’ and needed to be treated with ‘very considerable caution’.
Because she had changed her settings so only one user could see it she felt confident to make the famous declaration ‘it’s….Rebekah Vardy’s account’.
Rebekah lost her high-profile libel claim against Coleen, 36, in July when Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that Mrs Rooney’s viral social media post accusing Mrs Vardy of leaking her private information to the press was ‘substantially true’.
It followed a viral social media post where Coleen had revealed she had put false stories on her Instagram page. These fake tales then emerged in The Sun newspaper.
Rebekah Vardy, pictured here arriving at the High Court, was branded a ‘highly unreliable witness’ by Coleen’s lawyer in his closing remarks
Rebekah Vardy has been accused by friends of her agent Caroline Watt of being ‘cruel’ by ‘ignoring her mental health struggles’
Ms Watt withdrew from the Wagatha Christie case for mental health reasons but was repeatedly mentioned in evidence. They are both pictured at a TV event
Coleen told the court that she only posted the image (pictured left) on her private account because she did not want to fuel stories about her and Wayne reuniting after the couple’s marriage faltered when he was caught drink driving in another woman’s car. On her public Instagram account Coleen only posted a photo of herself with her then three sons Kai, Klay and Kit, (pictured right) wearing matching pyjamas. But she was angered a few days later, when a story appeared in The Sun clearly based on the private image
The judge said in the court order: ‘In particular, the weak allegation that the claimant was the Secret Wag added considerably to the work by the claimant’s representatives, the concession in respect of serious harm was made late, and the (Mrs Rooney’s) public interest defence was unsuccessful.
‘However, given the defendant’s success on the defence of truth which was at the heart of this claim, and the degree to which there was overlap between the issues, I consider that the appropriate reduction is 10%.’
Mrs Vardy had argued for a reduction to 80% while Mrs Rooney contended there should be no reduction at all.
The final figure of costs Mrs Vardy has to pay may be reduced further if she does not agree to pay the total incurred by Mrs Rooney and, at a later date, a court considers some of those costs to have been unreasonable.
The total amount of Mrs Vardy’s legal costs is not known but is expected to be of a similar level to those incurred by Mrs Rooney.
The High Court judgment that damned Rebekah Vardy
‘Significant’ parts of Vardy’s evidence ‘not credible’
Mrs Justice Steyn has found that Rebekah Vardy’s evidence in the trial was ‘manifestly inconsistent’ with other evidence on ‘many occasions’.
In her judgment, she said: ‘It was evident that Mrs Vardy found the process of giving evidence stressful and, at times, distressing’.
The judge added: ‘Nevertheless, I find that it is, unfortunately, necessary to treat Mrs Vardy’s evidence with very considerable caution.
‘There were many occasions when her evidence was manifestly inconsistent with the contemporaneous documentary evidence, e.g. in relation to the World Cup 2018 and the photoshopped pictures, and others where she was evasive.’
Mrs Justice Steyn continued: ‘Mrs Vardy was generally unwilling to make factual concessions, however implausible her evidence. This inevitably affects my overall view of her credibility, although I have borne in mind that untruthful evidence may be given to mask guilt or to fortify innocence.’
On the ‘Davy Jones’ incident that left Vardy’s agent’s phone at the bottom of the North Sea
Mrs Justice Steyn said ‘In my judgment, it is likely that Ms Vardy deliberately deleted her WhatsApp chat with Ms Watt, and that Ms Watt deliberately dropped her phone in the sea.’
Rebekah Vardy’s agent and friend said her phone fell into the North Sea while she was filming the Scottish coastline in August 2021.
Mrs Justice Steyn has said the likelihood that the loss of Caroline Watt’s phone was accidental was ‘slim’ and that it was ‘likely’ she deliberately dropped her phone into the sea.
In her judgment, the judge said that on August 4 2021, an order was made for Ms Watt’s phone to be inspected.
She said: ‘The timing is striking…the likelihood that the loss Ms Watt describes was accidental is slim.’
On her agent’s ‘breakdown’
Mrs Justice Steyn said that Rebekah Vardy chose not to call her agent Caroline Watt to give evidence partly because she knew her evidence ‘would be shown to be untrue’.
Ms Watt had been due to give evidence in support of Mrs Vardy, however, she withdrew her evidence pre-trial, with the court told it was due to health concerns.
The judge said: ‘I accept that her health has been adversely affected by these proceedings. However, I am compelled to the conclusion that the primary reason Ms Watt was so very reluctant to give evidence, and has suffered adversely from the pressure to do so, was that she knew that to a large extent the evidence in her statements was untrue’.
On whether Vardy leaked to The Sun
The Court found that the Mrs Vardy, ‘together with Ms Watt’, ‘was party to the disclosure to The Sun’.
The judge said: ‘The Court considered it likely that Ms Watt undertook the direct act, in relation to each post, of passing the information to a journalist at The Sun, but found that the Claimant [Mrs Vardy] knew of, condoned and was actively engaged in this process’.
On Wayne Rooney’s 2016 World Cup warning to Jamie Vardy that Rebekah should calm down
The judge said: ‘I accept Mr Rooney’s evidence that he was asked by the England Manager, Roy Hodgson, and the Assistant Manager, Gary Neville to speak to Mr Vardy about the fact that Ms Vardy’s media activities were causing problems and distractions that the Football Association wished to avoid’.
On Vardy’s seat grab at 2016 World Cup to be photographed with Coleen
Former Football Association family liaison officer Harpreet Robertson told how over two guests of Mrs Vardy became rude and abusive’ to her during the match.
Mrs Robertson claimed Rebekah’s evidence about why she sat behind Mrs Rooney at the England versus Wales game – that Mrs Rooney and family were in her seats and she took the nearest available to avoid a ‘fuss’ – was ‘simply untrue’.
The judge said she found Ms Robertson’s evidence ‘clear, consistent…and reliable’.
The judgment said: ‘It is highly likely that Ms Vardy ended up sitting directly behind Ms Rooney, in circumstances where that was not her allocated seat, due to a deliberate choice to put herself in the same shot.
‘It is probable that this is what she was advised to do by her PR agency. This would be consistent with her subsequent behaviour during the World Cup 2018, and Ms Watt’s involvement in seeking to ensure that they were able to obtain staged paparazzi photographs. In my judgment, Ms Vardy’s evidence on this matter was not credible. I do not accept she would have happily blurred into the background.’
How the Wagatha Christie case unfolded
Famous footballers at each other’s throats, former friends turned warring WAGs and salacious celebrity revelations – the Wagatha Christie libel captivated millions.
There were explosive Whatsapp messages, references to Peter Andre’s ‘chipolata’ and confusion over the fictional character Davy Jones.
Outside of the courtroom, social media saw an explosion of memes and mockery as the peculiar sketches of the trial’s participants from inside the High Court were shared far and wide.
Below, MailOnline recalls the juiciest details from those seven unforgettable days that gripped the nation:
Day 1: From Peter Andre’s ‘chipolata’ penis to fears she would lose her baby after being branded a ‘grass’: Rebekah Vardy’s first day of evidence
Peter Andre’s ‘chipolata’ manhood
Peter Andre’s privates were among the unlikely highlights of the first day of the Wagatha Christie trial
Peter Andre’s privates were among the unlikely highlights of the first day of the Wagatha Christie trial.
Rebekah Vardy was asked an interview she gave to the News Of The World about her claimed sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre.
Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne showed a print out of the article to Rebekah in the witness box before reading the headline: ‘Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes’.
The barrister read excerpts from the article, in which it was claimed Mr Andre had managed ‘just five minutes of sex with Rebekah’ and in which she said he had ‘the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen’ that was like a ‘miniature chipolata’.
Mr Sherborne suggested to Rebekah that the News Of The World was the ‘highest circulating newspaper at the time’, read by some four million people, and asked her whether it was ‘respectful’ of Peter Andre’s ‘right not to share this information’.
She replied: ‘I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this.
‘It is something that I deeply regret… It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me this is mudslinging and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney’s team.’
Asked the question again by Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne, Mrs Vardy said: ‘The circumstances around it were completely different.’
‘I feared losing my baby after Coleen said I was a grass’, says Rebekah
Coleen Rooney glared across a courtroom at Rebekah Vardy told how she feared she would lose her unborn baby after her rival Wag accused her of leaking stories.
Meanwhile, Mrs Rooney’s lawyer confronted Mrs Vardy with a newspaper interview in which she gave intimate details of a sexual encounter with pop star Peter Andre and mocked the size of his manhood.
She said she was labelled a ‘grass’ and was subjected to vile abuse and death threats from trolls who said her baby should be ‘put in an incinerator’.
Rebecaa Vardy is aided by a security guard as she leaves the opening day of her libel case against Coleen Rooney
Artist impression of Rebekah Vardy giving evidence (L) with Wayne and Coleen Rooney looking on (R) at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. May 10, 2022
She likened Mrs Rooney, the wife of former Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney, to a ‘school bully’ and said she had effectively turned the other footballers’ wives and girlfriends against her.
Mrs Rooney, 36, glowered at her rival as she denied she was responsible for the leaked stories, saying it was ‘not nice’ to betray other people’s confidences.
She described Mrs Rooney as ‘cold and calculated’ and said she had gloated to her close circle of other footballers’ wives about her detective work, and had created a ‘mob mentality’ against her.
Mrs Vardy said: ‘I was not the source of the three articles Coleen accused me of leaking. I believe that Coleen posted her claims so as to cause me maximum damage.
‘I will never forgive the way in which Coleen ruined my last weeks of pregnancy and the suffering she has caused to my children and my family but I hope that this claim will mean that the whole world will know that I did not betray Coleen’s trust.’
Day 2: Rebekah’s evidence continues about life as a WAG and anger at Coleen unfollowing her on Instagram
A mock-up of Wayne Rooney walking to court with a court sketch overlaid on his face
WAGs washing their smalls in the sink at the World Cup
Rebekah Vardy claimed she and her fellow WAGs had to wash their own clothes in the sink at their hotel during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
As the Wagatha Christie trial entered a third day, Rebekah was quizzed by Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne about the extent of her contacts with journalists during the tournament.
In response, the WAG claimed she did not have any contact with the media because she was too busy washing her clothes in the sink.
‘I was busy with the kids and under so much stress,’ she said. ‘We even had to wash our own clothes in the sink at the hotel.’
Calling Coleen a ‘c***’ for unfollowing her on Insta
Rebekah Vardy messaged her agent ‘OMG what a c***’ when Coleen Rooney unfollowed her on Instagram after ‘fake’ story about car crash was published, libel trial told
Rebekah Vardy has been quizzed once again at the Wagatha Christie libel trial about a WhatsApp exchange which saw her brand Coleen Rooney a ‘c***’ after she unfollowed her on Instagram.
‘OMG what a c***,’ Rebekah texted her agent Caroline Watt after realising what had happened, according to texts read out to the High Court earlier in the trial.
Vardy accused of trying to ‘do the dirty’ on Riyad Mahrez
FEBRUARY 2019: Ms Watt and Rebekah realise Coleen has unfollowed them on Instagram. In a series of messages, Rebekah, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, 35, is said to have described Coleen as a ‘nasty b****’ and a ‘c***’, while Ms Watt brands the wife of former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney as ‘trash’ and ‘up her own ar**’
Jamie Vardy training with his fellow Leicester player Riyad Mahrez. Rebekah was accused of leaking a story about Mahrez missing training
Rebekah admitted to sharing a tip about Danny Drinkwater – who, like Mahrez, was her husband Jamie’s colleague at Leicester
Rebekah Vardy denied that photos of her and Coleen Rooney together at an international football match (pictured) were a ‘set up’ following information from a photography agency
The court also heard claims Rebekah tried to ‘do the dirty’ and spill the beans on unrest in the Leicester City dressing room when star player Riyad Mahrez went ‘on strike’.
The court heard Rebekah contacted her agent Caroline Watt after Mahrez failed to turn up for training for the second day running.
At the time of the exchange in February 2018, Mahrez was seeking a move to Manchester City. In the WhatsApp message, Rebekah wrote: ‘Mahrez not turned up for training again. The lads are fuming.’
Mrs Vardy later discussed with her agent Caroline Watt leaking a story about a woman allegedly cheating on her husband, the High Court also heard.
The WAG insisted she was ‘just joking’ when Mr Sherborne questioned her about what she said in reference to a story about a woman named only as Mrs F – a ‘well-known celebrity’ – her estranged husband Mr H and Mr G, a ‘well-known footballer’.
Rebekah told Ms Watt that she should ‘leak the story about her s******g G behind H’s back’,’ Mr Sherborne said.
Jamie Vardy’s wife said she was ‘a bit shocked and a bit disgusted about what I’d seen in the paper’. She denied the suggestion it was ‘standard practice’ for her to leak private information to The Sun via her agent.
And Rebekah fell out with another high-profile WAG which led to a legal dispute, the High Court heard.
The court heard Vardy had a ‘spat on Instagram’ with Danielle Lloyd, the former wife of ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara. A dispute led to ‘legal correspondence’ between the pair the court heard.
Coleen’s barrister claimed messages between Rebekah and her agent showed she was trying to leak information about a pregnant woman who went on honeymoon to the Maldives but went on to suffer a miscarriage.
Vardy revealed the woman was Lloyd but denied leaking stories.
Day 3 – An emotional Mrs Vardy needs breaks after tears on the dock and then LAUGHTER after admitting: ‘I don’t know who Davy Jones is’
Rebekah Vardy on Davy Jones’ Locker
Rebekah (seen in a court sketch giving evidence) asked the High Court ‘who’s Davy Jones?’ following a nautical reference by Coleen Rooney’s barrister as the £3million Wagatha Christie libel trial continued for a third day
The judge explained to a confused Vardy that the idiom ‘Davy Jones’ locker’ refers to the legendary resting place of sailors who have drowned at sea (as illustrated)
London’s High Court burst into laughter after Rebekah Vardy admitted she didn’t know who Davy Jones was while being questioned over a missing mobile.
Her agent Caroline Watt’s phone was dropped in the North Sea after the court asked for it to be handed over for examination.
Coleen’s team have accused Rebekah of deleting key evidence that, it is said, would prove that Rebekah had been leaking stories to the media.
Coleen’s lawyer Mr Sherborne said: ‘We know that Ms Watt’s phone is now in Davy Jones’ Locker, don’t we, Mrs Vardy?’
Rebekah then replied: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know who Davy Jones is’, saying didn’t watch much TV. The judge then had to describe Mr Sherborne’s nautical reference to the sea bed.
Arguing with Coleen Rooney is as pointless as arguing with a pigeon: ‘It’s still going to s**t in your hair
One of the highlights so far was Rebekah Vardy’s comments about arguing with Coleen Rooney was ‘as pointless as arguing with a pigeon’.
Mrs Vardy gave to a newspaper after Mrs Rooney’s ‘Wagatha Christie’ post, in which she denied being behind the leaks and said she was devastated by the abuse she received.
Mrs Vardy told the Daily Mail, when asked if the pair had argued: ‘That would be like arguing with a pigeon.
‘You can tell it that you are right and it is wrong, but it’s still going to s*** in your hair.’
Gemma Collins’ faceplant distracted me from WhatsApping my agent, says Mrs Vardy
Rebekah Vardy has claimed that she was too distracted by Gemma Collins’ Dancing On Ice ‘faceplant’ to respond when her PR agent admitted she was the source of the Coleen Rooney car crash leak.
The court heard that Caroline Watt admitted she had been the source of the Honda car crash story. It came at the end of the pair’s discussion when Ms Watt simply wrote: ‘It was me.’
Rebekah agreed that the message ‘appeared to confirm Caroline Watt was the source of the story’.
She said she did not respond to the message as it was the children’s bath time then she was further distracted by ‘Gemma Collins’ faceplant’ in Dancing on Ice.
She was referring to the moment the celebrity tripped and fell face-first on the ice during one of the routines in the ITV show.
Tears in the witness box
Rebekah Vardy was accused of betraying her friends and her husband’s teammates as she was grilled over WhatsApp messages in the ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial.
She broke down repeatedly, leading to two emergency breaks in court.
In five hours of gruelling cross-examination, which at one point left her in tears, Rebekah denied she encouraged her agent to ‘stalk’ Coleen Rooney’s private Instagram and leak stories about her and other Wags.
Rebekah, 40, was confronted with messages in which she discussed leaking and selling stories, and faced repeated accusations that she was lying to the court to protect the ‘last shred’ of her case against Coleen.
She rejected accusations she had revealed ‘juicy information’ to settle scores with rival Wags, while courting positive publicity by arranging staged photographs and interviews to promote her image.
‘If I’m honest, I’d been drinking’: Rebekah blames booze for memory lapses
Rebekah Vardy was dramatically accused of lying after she blamed heavy drinking for failing to remember the details of a 2018 World Cup paparazzi photo she allegedly helped to set up – as the Wagatha Christie libel trial entered its third day.
She denied the allegation this morning. But when asked for details by barrister David Sherborne – acting for her rival Coleen Rooney – she said: ‘If I’m completely honest I had been drinking quite a bit.’
Mr Sherborne cuttingly replied: ‘I would hope you’re honest because you’re sitting in a witness box.’
He then added: ‘Mrs Vardy, this is the first time that you have suggested that your recollection of events has been affected by drinking – that’s a lie, isn’t it?’
The High Court heard how Rebekah received a text from her agent, Ms Watt, announcing ‘it was me’ after Coleen first publicly claimed that someone had been leaking stories from her private Instagram.
Asked by Mr Sherborne why did not challenge her, Rebekah said it was because she had been ‘watching Dancing on Ice’ and was distracted by Gemma Collins’s infamous ‘face-plant’.
In another bizarre exchange, the barrister referred to Ms Watt’s claim that she had lost her phone after it had fallen off a boat into the North Sea.
He said it was now ‘lying at the bottom of sea in Davy Jones’ locker’,’ only for Rebekah to ask the court: ‘Who is Davy Jones?’
Earlier, Mr Sherborne quizzed Rebekah about a series of messages she exchanged with her agent which allegedly show them working together to organise the 2018 World Cup paparazzi photo.
The group of WAGs in the snap included Marcus Rashford’s girlfriend Lucia Loi, Kyle Walker’s partner Annie Kilner and Harry Maguire’s fiancée Fern Hawkins – who was left ‘upset and embarrassed’ when it emerged in the media.
Rebekah said Ms Watt had arranged for a photographer to take pictures of her as she left her hotel but denied giving the photographer the location of either the hotel or the restaurant where the WAGs were having dinner.
The court heard Rebekah texted Ms Watt about travel arrangements from the hotel to the restaurant. There were exchanges about last minute changes in travel arrangements on the night.
Mr Sherborne suggested that a message to Ms Watt which said, ‘I have bought about 10 minutes’ referred to the fact Rebekah was delaying some of the women from posting a group photograph on social media because a photographer hiding in the bushes by the hotel had taken a picture of them all and they ‘didn’t want to lose their exclusive’.
In response, Rebekah said, ‘Well, it reads like that’ but said she ‘couldn’t recall’ the details due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed. ‘The plans changed,’ she added. ‘I recall it may have been raining. No one wants to walk when they’re dressed up in the rain.’
Mr Sherborne accused Rebekah of changing her story about what happened and reminded her that she had signed a statement of truth when she made legal declarations, risking a contempt of court action if she lied.
‘You can’t get your story straight,’ he said to her, adding that this was ‘because you’re lying’.
Mr Sherborne asked Rebekah why she was ‘pulling a face’ when he said he was going to refer to a witness statement made by the FA’s family liaison officer, Harpreet Robertson.
Rebekah – who has claimed the representative took an instant dislike to her – said: ‘Because it was Ms Robertson again.’
Quoting from the statement, Mr Sherborne Ms Robertson said other members of the group and a member of the England squad were upset that they had been ‘set up’ as they were not looking to court publicity.
Rebekah replied: ‘This is the first that I’ve heard of it.’
Rebekah denies making ’embarrassing’ claims there was ‘no sex ban’ imposed on the 2018 England World Cup squad in newspaper article that branded her the ‘unofficial leader of the WAGs’
Mr Sherborne referred to a story in which Rebekah was alleged to have confirmed that there was no sex ban within the England squad during the 2018 World Cup.
The article in The Sun had the headline: ‘Becky Vardy reveals the secret to England’s World Cup success is down to the lads getting to spend time with their WAGs.
It said England’s successful run in the tournament was down to Gareth Southgate ‘giving the lads the freedom to score – with their wives and girlfriends.’
Rebekah is said to have hinted that sex hadn’t been explicitly forbidden as ‘there is no proof it hinders performance’
The article featured an apparently naked Rebekah draped inna flag of St George.
The article described Rebekah as the ‘unofficial leader of the WAGs.
Asked if those were her words Rebekah denied the saying of the journalist who wrote the story: ‘No it was his and it’s quite an embarrassing statement.’
During his cross-examination Mr Sherborne accused Rebekah of ‘having selective amnesia’.
WAGs ‘had to wash their own clothes in the SINK at the hotel during the 2018 World Cup in Russia’, Rebekah claims
Rebekah has claimed that she and her fellow WAGs had to wash their own clothes in the sink at their hotel during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The High Court heard that Rebekah gave an interview with The Sun during the football tournament as Coleen’s lawyer accused her of trying to distance herself from the notion she had ‘strong links’ with journalists.
Referring to this interview, Jamie Vardy’s wife told the court: ‘I was busy with the kids and under so much stress and we even had to wash our own clothes in the sink at the hotel.’
The High Court heard messages Ms Watt sent Rebekah as she was setting up the interview.
Ms Watt told her it was ‘easy s**t’ and that she should talk about how she is having a good time and ‘backing the boys’ but ‘don’t want any attention’.
Rebekah ‘used the anniversary of Coleen’s sister’s death as a peg to contact her after the WAG unfollowed her on Instagram’
Rebekah allegedly ‘used the anniversary of Coleen’s sister’s death as a peg to contact the WAG’ after she unfollowed Jamie Vardy’s wife on Instagram, the court heard.
Coleen unfollowed Rebekah in January 2019 after the car crash story, suspecting she was the ‘grass’ who had leaked her information.
In text messages between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt, Rebekah said she would like to contact Coleen and suggested ‘saying something about’ her sister Rosie, who died in 2013 aged 14.
Mr Sherborne put it to Rebekah that she was going to ‘use the anniversary’ of Rooney’s sister dying as ‘the peg’ to message her.
Rebekah said: ‘That’s interpreted wrong’.
In the event, Ms Watts suggested she use a different tack by saying she had recently been on Loose Women and the programme’s booker asked if Coleen might want to appear on the show.
Rebekah – pictured – continued to give evidence after her gruelling five-hour cross-examination was cut short by a fire alarm on May 12
A court drawing of Rebekah as she gave evidence on the third day of the Wagatha Christie trial
‘She defo CRASHED’: Rebekah denies leaking story about Coleen’s ‘bad car smash’ in US
Rebekah denied leaking information about Coleen’s 2019 car crash in Washington DC to the media.
Mr Sherborne quizzed Jamie Vardy’s wife over an article in The Sun about how Coleen had narrowly escaped injury in a horror crash while husband Wayne was playing in the US.
Coleen had posted a picture of her badly damaged Honda on her private Instagram account, the court heard.
The story quoted a source who said: ‘Coleen ended up having a bad smash when she was driving the family car. One side of the car was completely caved in. She couldn’t drive it away and it looked like a total write off.’
The day after the message was posted, Ms Watt sent a message to Rebekah saying: ‘Am I imagining it or did you say yesterday that Coleen had crashed her Honda?’
Rebekah replied: ‘She defo has’ – and instructed Ms Watt to go into Coleen’s account. Ms Watt then sent another message saying: ‘She must have taken whatever it is down as it’s not there now.’
Under cross-examination, Rebekah denied leaking the story.
An Instagram post from Coleen showed a photo of the damaged vehicle, which the court has been told about previously. ‘RIP’ and ‘half a Honda’, the post says.
Mr Sherborne referred Rebekah to an article written in The Sun about the car crash.
‘Coleen Rooney narrowly avoids injury in car crash and wrecks 4×4 just weeks after Wayne’s arrest for ‘public intoxication’ in Washington,’ the article, which was published on 25 January 2019, is headlined.
Mr Sherborne brought up the text messages between Rebekah and Ms Watt about the crash, which took place on the 23 January.
Ms Watt asked her about Coleen crashing the Honda and told her she could no longer see the Instagram post.
‘I would have tried to have done a story on Coleen but the evidence has been deleted,’ Ms Watt said in a message to Vardy, the court hears.
The previous evening, Rebekah had been at the National Television Awards. She and Ms Watts were in a box hosted by The Sun, the court heard, and the journalist who wrote the car crash article a few days later, Andy Halls, was also there.
Mr Sherborne accused Rebekah of changing her story on whether or not she knew Halls was there. In her witness statement submitted to the court, she said: ‘Andy Halls may also have been there but I don’t remember seeing him.’
Referring to the texts between her and Ms Watts about the car crash, Rebekah said at one point: ‘I wasn’t paying that much attention, not at half past eight at night.’
Mr Sherborne said: ‘But you don’t say to her it’s half past eight and I want to watch my favourite show on TV, do you?’
‘I don’t really watch television,’ said Rebekah.
Rebekah agrees Ms Watt ‘appeared to be source’ of story on Coleen’s car crash after her agent admitted ‘it was me’ in text… but tells trial she didn’t reply because she was distracted by ‘Gemma Collins’ faceplant on Dancing on Ice’
Gemma Collins falling over on ITV’s Dancing On Ice in January 2019 was the key moment that meant Vardy didn’t reply to her agent after she admitted on ‘It was me’ in a conversation about being a story source
Rebekah agreed her agent ‘appeared to be the source’ of a news story on Coleen’s 2019 car crash after the agent admitted ‘it was me’ in a text message.
Rebekah was referring to the moment the celebrity tripped and fell face-first on the ice during one of the routines in the ITV show.
Coleen’s lawyer David Sherborne read out two Instagram posts by his client in London’s High Court about The Sun’s article in the months before she embarked on her ‘Wagatha Christie’ investigation.
In a public post, Coleen wrote: ‘Someone on my private Instagram seen the picture and is telling or selling stories to a certain newspaper. It’s happened several times now over the past couple of years. It’s sad to think someone who I have accepted to follow me is betraying for either money or to keep a relationship with the press.’
Mr Sherborne then took Rebekah to further texts sent between herself and her agent Ms Watt.
‘Such a victim. Poor Coleen,’ Ms Watt said to Rebekah at about 6.28pm on January 27, 2019. Just under 20 minutes later, she sent another message. ‘And it wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me’.
Rebekah told the court: ‘That seems to be what she’s saying.’ She said she didn’t replying, adding ‘at 6.35 I would have been bathing my children’ at the time the message was sent.
The court then heard that Rebekah allegedly tried to throw Coleen ‘off the scent’ with ‘disingenuous messages’ to her suggesting her account might have been hacked by journalists.
Rebekah told Coleen in a private message: ‘Oh my God. What the f*** is wrong with people. Why have they taken that one of you and the kids and not of Wayne in bed? That would have been an even better one in their eyes. D***heads. Hope you are OK.’
Mr Sherborne suggested Rebekah sent the message as she ‘knew the finger of suspicion’ was going to be pointed at her.
Her message continued: ‘That is so bad! And The Sun of all people as well! Have you been through all your followers? No one with any celeb mag links? What about being hacked? I would be chomping if that was me! Not on at all.’
‘This was totally disingenuous, Mrs Vardy,’ Mr Sherborne said. ‘You knew perfectly well that you had been the source of this story through Caroline Watt but you presented yourself to her as someone who hates the Sun. You’re trying to throw Mrs Rooney off the scent, aren’t you?’
‘I don’t hate the Sun’, Rebekah interjected.
‘But you knew Mrs Rooney did,’ Mr Sherborne said, and Rebekah agreed.
Rebekah ‘tried to throw Coleen off the scent with ‘disingenuous messages’ to her suggesting her Instagram account might have been hacked by journalists’
Coleen leaving her London hotel earlier – still wearing an orthopaedic boot on her left leg following an accident at home
Rebekah allegedly tried to throw Coleen Rooney ‘off the scent’ with ‘disingenuous messages’ to her suggesting her account might have been hacked by journalists, the High Court heard.
The WAG told Coleen in a private message: ‘Oh my God. What the f*** is wrong with people. Why have they taken that one of you and the kids and not of Wayne in bed? That would have been an even better one in their eyes. D***heads. Hope you are OK.’
Coleen’s lawyer Mr Sherborne suggested Rebekah sent the message as she ‘knew the finger of suspicion’ was going to be pointed at her.
Her message continued: ‘That is so bad! And The Sun of all people as well! Have you been through all your followers? No one with any celeb mag links? What about being hacked? I would be chomping if that was me! Not on at all.’
‘This was totally disingenuous, Mrs Vardy,’ Mr Sherborne said. ‘You knew perfectly well that you had been the source of this story through Caroline Watt but you presented yourself to her as someone who hates the Sun. You’re trying to throw Mrs Rooney off the scent, aren’t you?’
‘I don’t hate the Sun’, Rebekah interjected.
‘But you knew Mrs Rooney did,’ Mr Sherborne said, and Rebekah agreed.
Day 4 – Coleen reveals her marriage was on the rocks due to Wayne’s naughtiness as Mrs Vardy breaks down in the dock over online hate
My marriage almost fell apart after Wayne’s drink-driving, Coleen Rooney tells court
The Rooneys walking through a crowd of photographers as they left the Royal Courts of Justice on day four of the Wagatha Christie trial: Coleen made her first appearance in the witness box after Rebekah Vardy’s tearful evidence
One day four of the trial Mrs Rooney, pictured here with her husband Wayne in a court sketch, battled wits with Rebekah Vardy’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson, QC
Coleen told the ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial how her marriage almost fell apart after her husband Wayne was caught drink-driving with a party girl.
Taking to the witness stand for the first time on day four of the £3million trial at the High Court, Mrs Rooney recalled the aftermath of the incident involving former office worker Laura Simpson in 2017, when she and their children stayed with her parents.
Mrs Rooney, who claims fellow Wag Rebekah Vardy leaked stories about her private life to the Press, said: ‘I was in a vulnerable situation… I didn’t know how my marriage was going to work out.
‘Me and Wayne were trying to figure out our relationship and where we were going. But I didn’t want the public to know that… I hadn’t settled on: ‘This is it, we are getting back together.’
She said she nearly split from former England striker Mr Rooney as she described the upset caused by a newspaper story stemming from a private Instagram post at the time, featuring her husband and their children in pyjamas.
Coleen: Sarah Harding caught Vardy taking pictures inside her handbag
Sarah Harding is said to have got into an argument with Rebekah after spotting her taking photos inside her handbag
Rebekah got into a heated argument with Sarah Harding at the 2018 National Television Awards after the Girls Aloud singer spotted her rifling through her handbag, the High Court heard.
The story – which was published in several tabloid newspapers at the time – was mentioned by Coleen Rooney in written documents she submitted to the High Court as part of the £3million Wagatha Christie libel trial.
Coleen claimed: ‘She got in a spat with former Girls Aloud group member Sarah Harding during the 2018 event because Sarah apparently caught Becky taking photographs of the contents of Sarah’s handbag when Sarah had dropped it on the floor.
‘Their dispute subsequently appeared in The Sun.’
Message about my late sister made me ‘sick’, says Mrs Rooney
On another day of bombshell revelations in the trial, Mrs Rooney, 36, said in written evidence that a message between Mrs Vardy, 40, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, and her agent Caroline Watt referencing her deceased sister ‘knocked me sick’ when it was disclosed.
Mrs Rooney wrote in her statement: ‘While they were discussing her messaging me in order to cover her tracks, Becky says to Caroline Watt, ‘Maybe I should say something about Rosie’.
‘Rosie is a reference to my sister who suffered with Rett syndrome and passed away in 2013 at the age of just 14.
‘The mere fact that Becky would suggest seeking to use Rosie’s name in conversation with me in order to put me off the scent of suspecting Becky as the person responsible for leaking my private information to The Sun is really low and sad. It actually knocked me sick when I read that message from Becky to Caroline.’
Rebekah: I was bullied and manipulated and need to clear my name
Rebekah Vardy told London’s High Court that she feels she has been ‘bullied and manipulated’ during the Wagatha Christie libel trial, and denied throwing her PR agent Caroline Watt ‘under a bus’.
Jamie Vardy’s wife said she pressed on with legal action despite a letter from Coleen’s solicitors which she perceived as a ‘threat’ because she ‘didn’t do anything wrong’.
Asked how she has found giving evidence this week, Rebekah said: ‘Exhausting, intimidating, I feel like I’ve been bullied and manipulated’.
Explaining her motivation for suing Coleen for libel, she sobbed: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong – I wanted to clear my name, and not just for me, for my family and my children.’
She also denied personally leaking information to The Sun, denied speaking to or messaging any journalists about any of Coleen’s posts, denied asking her agent Ms Watt to pass on information and denied deleting messages from her WhatsApp.
Rebekah also said said the suggestion that she had thrown under agent ‘under a bus’ in the case was ‘not right’.
I was scared I was going to lose the baby, emotional Rebekah tells High Court
An emotional Rebekah Vardy said that she feared she was going to lose her fourth baby after Coleen Rooney accused the WAG of leaking stories to the Press in October 2019.
London’s High Court has heard how Rebekah was subjected to abuse and threats after Coleen’s Wagatha Christie post to Instagram while Jamie Vardy’s wife was heavily pregnant.
Asked to describe her state of mind at the time the allegations were made, she told her laywer: ‘Constant anxiety, panic attacks, and I was scared I was going to lose the baby’.
She began sobbing again when asked about her state of mind when she had her fourth baby, barely two months after Coleen’s Wagatha post.
‘I wasn’t in a good place,’ she said.
Asked when her daughter was born, she said, crying, 28th December, 2019 and repeated the date. She was offered the chance to compose herself, but continued giving evidence.
Rebekah Vardy DENIED telling her PR agent to leak Coleen Rooney’s car crash to the press
Rebekah Vardy has denied instructing her agent Caroline Watt to view Coleen Rooney’s private Instagram account to leak information about the WAG’s 2019 car crash to the Press.
London’s High Court has heard how Ms Watt texted Rebekah admitting that she had given information about Coleen’s crash in Washington DC to The Sun newspaper.
Rebekah said it ‘appeared’ that Ms Watt was the source of the story, but said she didn’t reply to her text because she was too engrossed watching Gemma Collins’ Dancing On Ice ‘faceplant’.
Mr Tomlinson asked: ‘Were you instructing Caroline Watt to go into the Instagram to obtain information to leak to The Sun?’
Rebekah replied: ‘No, I wasn’t’.
Day 5 – Coleen lays bare her ‘Scousetrap’ plot that saw her accuse rival WAG Rebekah of leaking ‘fake stories’
Euro 2016 seating row behind Coleen that led to a FA official being told to ‘f**k off’
Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy at the 2016 Group B match between England v Wales at Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens
Rebekah Vardy’s evidence about why she sat behind Coleen Rooney at a football match is ‘simply untrue’, a former Football Association (FA) employee has told the High Court.
Harpreet Robertson, a former ticketing manager and family liaison officer for the FA, was questioned over the seating arrangements at one of England’s matches at Euro 2016.
Ms Robertson told the court she believed Mrs Vardy made a ‘choice’ to sit in seats behind Mrs Rooney at the match, alleging in her witness statement that Mrs Vardy’s evidence over this was ‘simply untrue’.
In her own witness statement, Mrs Vardy said: ‘We went to a game one day and Coleen and her family were sitting in our seats. Rather than make a fuss we sat in the nearest seats available.’
Mrs Vardy denied she had intentionally swapped seats to be seen near Mrs Rooney and in the pictures.
However in her witness statement, Mrs Robertson said: ‘Becky never expressly refused to take the seats that she had been allocated, her guests did this instead, but it appeared that she wanted to be sat in the seats that were right in the eye line of anyone looking at, or photographing, Coleen’.
Ms Robertson added: ‘The following morning, the tabloid papers were full of photographs of her sat directly behind Coleen. This was precisely the kind of media attention that the FA, and I, had tried to avoid.’
In her witness statement, Ms Robertson also said that she would reserve seats at matches for her and FA security team members, but found a number of people already sat in those seats.
She continued: ‘I asked them to move but they refused and were incredibly rude and abusive to me, remarking words to the effect of ‘we can sit where we like, f*** off’.
‘Scousetrap’ sting operation revealed by Coleen
A sketch by court artist Priscilla Coleman of Coleen Rooney, watched by her husband Wayne, as she gives evidence at the Royal Courts Of Justice
Coleen said despite never being friends with Rebekah, she became suspicious of the rival WAG when she began ‘fishing for information’.
She said the ‘Scousetrap’ sting was not ‘plucked out of thin air’, saying she had thought long and hard before making the now-infamous social media post accusing Rebekah.
Describing how her investigation began to gain momentum, Coleen said: ‘There were a number of things that added up with the others. I didn’t just pluck it out of thin air.
‘I suspected this person was having a relationship with The Sun so I googled it, looked at past articles and saw the connection between Rebekah Vardy and The Sun.
‘This thing was not just thought of overnight. I did think of it for a long time. As I’ve said I’m not one who just jumps on things.’
She said: ‘I was trying to get more information and put it together with the information I already had. I came up with Rebekah Vardy. There was no other person who my private Instagram who was in a position to give this information to The Sun.
She added she became suspicious of Rebekah as she would ‘regularly’ message Coleen when there was press coverage about Wayne Rooney’s wife.
Saying Rebekah was ‘not in my circle’, Coleen said: ‘I felt like when she contacted me it was to try and get information out of me.’
Coleen Rooney ramped up her Wagatha Christie ‘sting’ amid reports of husband Wayne’s ‘misbehaving’ with a barmaid
Coleen admitted for the first time that she split from her husband Wayne and feared her marriage was over after he was caught drink-driving with ‘party girl’ Laura Simpson (pictured)
Coleen revealed how she personally doubled down in her secret ‘Wagatha Christie’ investigation when her husband Wayne was ‘misbehaving’ with a blonde barmaid during a ten-hour bender with teammates in Florida.
Coleen also admitted keeping her probe secret from the former England captain – as well as lying to Rebekah Vardy after being asked why she had unfollowed her on Instagram, as the women’s £3million libel trial continued.
London’s High Court heard the sting gathered momentum at a time when Rooney was ‘misbehaving.’ Asked if that was the case by Rebekah’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC, Coleen replied: ‘There’s been a few unfortunate things that have happened and they have been publicised. It’s happened quite a few times and I’ve dealt with it. We’ve dealt with it as a couple, as a family. There are a few things that have been publicised over a few years.’
Speaking of Rebekah’s response to her ‘troubles’, Coleen said: ‘I did feel that when there’s tough times going on, I felt Mrs Vardy would message more. I felt It’s when there are things in the news, she would message me and say How are you?’. I felt like it was fishing for information.’
The court heard one occasion when Rebekah went ‘fishing for information’ happened hours after her husband allegedly ‘spent time’ with the barmaid in Florida. Coleen told how Rebekah got in contact after The Sun told how she was threatening to quit the US and return to Britain after Rooney’s encounter with Vicki Rosiek when he was playing for DC United in Washington.
Making contact with Coleen at lunchtime on February 11 2019, the day after the article appeared, Rebekah wrote: ‘Hi my love! Hope you are ok! Just saw another s***ty story online! Can they not just leave you guys alone…I don’t know how you do it! It’s relentless…stay strong. Sending hugs.
Coleen replied: ‘Thanks, just a pain in a**e…it’s the kids half term so just gonna come home.’ Messaging Coleen back, Rebekah wrote: ‘It’s a joke! Annoys me someone close to you is clearly selling you out! And for what…I don’t blame you come home and be with your family’.
Rebekah’s ‘evil’ messages
Texts between Caroline Watt and Rebekah Vardy in which they discuss Coleen unfollowing Rebekah and footballer Danny Drinkwater’s arrest for drink-driving
Talking about Rebekah’s frequent exchanges with her publicist Caroline Watt about her private life, which emerged during the libel case, Coleen said: ‘She’s got no need to talk about me. I just felt that the messages that went on between them are evil and uncalled for’.
These included Rebekah apparently calling Coleen a ‘c***’ for unfollowing her on Instagram.
Coleen told the judge: They’re totally the opposite of the truth. I’m not a bad person. It’s totally untrue. I didn’t think there was any need for it/’It’s nothing to do with them.’
She added of Rebekah: ‘I didn’t trust her – I didn’t believe her. I did not believe a word that was coming out of her mouth.’
She said she wasn’t trying to portray Rebekah as ‘a valiant’ and thought much of the response to her post was ‘ridiculous’.
Coleen said she ‘hated every minute’ of the furore which erupted.
She accepted she had images on her phone which made light of the matter including references to the Scooby Doo gang ‘unmasking a villain’ and comparisons with Agatha Christie.
But she insisted she was not ‘delighted’ with the reaction to the post.
Coleen said: ‘No I wasn’t. I have never craved press attention. I have had it and I have accepted it. I have never drawn attention to myself.’
Coleen also told how she kept tabs on whether stories had been published about her during her investigation by making online checks. She said: ‘Sometimes I do Google News and click my name in and articles come up.’
And Coleen told of her shock at receiving a legal letter of complaint about a month after the Wagatha Christie post. She said: ‘I was quite spooked by that, I’ve never been in a position to be sent a lawyer’s letter before. Any lawyer’s letter would be threatening to me, I’ve never had one before.’
Asked about trolling directed at Rebekah after the post, she said: ‘It was disgusting, I would never wish that on anyone.’
Coleen Rooney claims she ‘hated every minute’ of Wagatha Christie fallout
Coleen Rooney claimed that she ‘hated every minute’ of the Wagatha Christie fallout after accusing Rebekah Vardy of leaking ‘fake’ stories to the media, even though her £3million libel trial heard she saved a Scooby Doo meme about her ‘unmasking the villain’ saved on her phone.
The £3million libel trial heard Coleen saved a Scooby Doo meme about her ‘unmasking the villain’ saved on her phone
Rebekah’s barrister last week claimed that fellow Wag Coleen had revelled’ in the national reaction to her bombshell October 2019 post.
But Wayne Rooney’s wife told London’s High Court that she thought much of the response to her post was ‘ridiculous’ and said she was ‘not delighted’ by the reaction. She insisted: ‘I have never craved press attention in my life, I have had it and I have accepted it and I have tried to cope with it, and I have lived my life as best as I can in the public eye.’
Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC said Coleen had used her fame for ‘commercial purposes’, to which she answered: ‘Yeah I have been fortunate that things have come my way and I have took the opportunities and used them.
She said she had appeared in a Netflix documentary that was about Wayne, then added: ‘I wanted to continue at school but the pressure became quite big at a young age.
‘I felt like that was something that I could then control in a way and I think I have done a lot and obviously I haven’t worked for a while because I have had children and I just wanted to be a mum. But I never wanted to be in the public eye, I was thrown into it and I have worked with it.’
Coleen didn’t confront Rebekah before Wagatha Christie post ‘because she didn’t believe a word that was coming out of her mouth’
Coleen said she did not believe Rebekah would ‘tell the truth anyway, even if I confronted her’. Asked whether the best thing to do would have been to warn her this was going on, she asserted that Rebekah had told a ‘lot of lies’.
Crucially, she added that not only did she think it was Rebekah’s account that was leaking stories to The Sun, but also Rebekah herself was aware. ‘I believe she knew all along’, she said.
In addition, Coleen told how she did not contact her rival after making her Wagatha Christie discovery as ‘did not believe a word that was coming out of her mouth’.
Explaining why she made her ‘It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s Account’ post instead of contacting Rebekah, she told the court ‘I thought maybe if I did approach her she might twist it and cover it up somehow and might not be truthful so I didn’t give her the opportunity.’
Asked about Rebekah’s response to the post she said: ‘She said she had zero interest in what was going on in my life which I didn’t think was true because she talks about me a lot. So that was a lie.’
Coleen used a photo of her niece to give Rebekah Vardy the false impression she was ‘broody’
Coleen Rooney used a photo of her niece as part of the sting operation, the High Court heard.
She posted a photo of herself with her brother’s daughter, captioned ‘Broody’, which she admitted under questioning from Rebekah’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson, was to give the false impression to Rebekah that she longed for a baby girl.
The photographs were of her niece, the court heard, but her family would ‘not know what I was doing with them’.
She said: ‘I have photographs with the little girl but it doesn’t say gender selection.’
Coleen explained that around that time she accepted a friend request, [from footballer Tom Cleverley] which is why some stories show they have been viewed by two people – including Rebekah.
Asked if she unblocked her other followers from her story shortly afterwards, Coleen said: ‘Yes.’
She said this was so she could carry on with her holiday, and post things that she would normally post.
Coleen: I lied to Vardy when I unfollowed her – and wouldn’t be bothered if she did the same to me
Coleen Rooney has admitted keeping her ‘Wagatha Christie’ probe secret from husband Wayne – as well as lying to Rebekah Vardy after being asked why she had unfollowed her on Instagram, as their libel trial continued.
Asked by Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC at the High Court in London this morning why she had not told the ex-England captain about it, Coleen replied: ‘One thing I don’t do is put any troubles or worries on anyone else.
‘I don’t like to put pressure on anyone until I need to. That’s what I’ve always done. I wanted to do it for myself without telling anyone. There’s trust and there’s trust. It was quite hard keeping it to myself but I had to do it if I wanted to find out who was doing it to me.’
During cross-examination about her actions, 36-year-old Coleen also told Mr Tomlinson at the £3million trial: ‘Yes I did lie, it was a cover-up for what I was investigating, I had my suspicions.’
The court heard that Coleen unfollowed Rebekah in early 2019 and received a message a month later asking her if Rebekah had ‘done something to offend you.’ The court heard that on March 3 that year, Rebekah sent Coleen a note saying: ‘I saw you had unfollowed me and I wasn’t following you anymore on Instagram…just wanted to ask if I had done something or offended you in anyway? Literally only noticed the other day’.
Coleen admitted she ‘told her a fib’ in her reply, saying she ‘didn’t even know’ – adding that her children used her phone often and she would check to see what happened. In fact, the court was told that she had deliberately unfollowed her because of concerns that stories were being leaked from her account.
Day 6 – Jamie Vardy accuses Wayne Rooney of talking ‘nonsense’ about his wife before leaving early after Rebekah falls ill
The Vardys leave early
Rebekah Vardy (R) and her husband, Leicester City striker, Jamie Vardy (L) leave the Royal Courts of Justice early on Wednesday
Rebekah Vardy dramatically left the Wagatha Christie libel trial early on Tuesday after her husband accused Wayne Rooney of ‘talking nonsense’ about them.
Jamie Vardy led his wife out of the High Court during a ten-minute interval.
Moments later, her legal team told the judge she had gone because she ‘was not feeling very well’.
The Rooneys appeared in good spirits and were smiling as they left court at the end of the day’s proceedings, as legal experts predicted the case was going their way.
Wayne Rooney: Roy Hodgson asked me to speak to Jamie about his wife
Wayne Rooney was the star witness on Day 6 of the Wagatha Christie trial
England manager Roy Hodgson (left) talks to Jamie Vardy (second left) as Wayne Rooney (second right) watches on during a training session at Stade de Bourgognes in Chantilly during the Euro 2016 tournament in France
Wayne Rooney told the High Court there was ‘a lot of negativity’ surrounding Mrs Vardy’s column for The Sun and so he agreed to ask Vardy ‘to ask his wife to calm down’.
Rooney recalled sitting down with his teammate over a can of Red Bull and a coffee in the England squad’s games room during the competition in France.
He said: ‘I remember the conversation I had with Jamie. It was awkward for me to speak to a teammate about his wife. It wasn’t my place to speak to Mrs Vardy. I was asked to speak to Mr Vardy and I followed those instructions.’
Rooney said he did not know whether Vardy had raised the issue with his wife, saying: ‘If Jamie gives that information to his wife or not is not down to me.’ He was asked whether he was certain the conversation took place and replied: ‘I’m sat here under oath. I 100 per cent spoke to Mr Vardy on the situation. Again, if he wants to relay that back to his wife that’s entirely his business.’
…but Jamie brands his evidence ‘nonsense’
After Wayne’s evidence Jamie Vardy put out a statement denying it was true – but stopped short of accusing his former England teammate of perjury
Around two hours later, Vardy issued the statement through his wife’s PR agent. He said: ‘Wayne is talking nonsense. He must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky’s media work at Euro 2016.
‘There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky.’
The Vardys arrived at court hand in hand, and continued to hold hands throughout most of the morning’s hearing. Mrs Vardy, who wore a £1,100 navy trouser suit by US designer Veronica Beard, briefly rested her head on her husband’s shoulder when they arrived back in the court after the lunch break.
They failed to reappear in court after the ten-minute mid-afternoon break, when Mrs Vardy’s legal team announced she had left because she was feeling unwell. It was the second day in a row that the 40-year-old left early.
Wayne Rooney says Coleen became ‘a different mother and a different wife’ as she ‘struggled’ with fallout from her 2019 Wagatha Christie post
Wayne Rooney arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday morning before he gave evidence
Wayne Rooney claimed his wife Coleen Rooney had become a ‘different mother and a different wife’, adding that she had ‘really struggled’ with the fallout from her notorious ‘Wagatha Christie’ post three years ago.
Rooney also revealed he was asked by England manager Roy Hodgson to request that Jamie Vardy asked his wife Rebekah to ‘calm down’ during Euro 2016 in France, as the £3million trial continued at the High Court in London. Court observers said there was ‘lots of whispering’ between Rebekah and Vardy during Rooney’s evidence.
Rooney, the side’s captain, said he was pulled aside by Hodgson and his assistant Gary Neville and asked to raise the ‘awkward’ issue with Vardy over concerns that Rebekah was ‘causing problems and distractions’ for the team. He told the court about the conversation with Vardy, saying: ‘We were in the games room, there was table tennis. I spoke to him, he had a can of Red Bull and I had a coffee, I remember those details because it was so awkward.’
Speaking about Hodgson’s request, Rooney said: ‘They asked me to, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife and I think we all knew we spoke about it, it was an awkward subject.’ Among the issues was the idea Rebekah had ‘some kind of column in The Sun’, the court heard. Rooney said the boss wanted him ‘to ask his wife to calm down and not bring any issues off the field that were unnecessary’.
Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC asked him: ‘Ask his wife to calm down… she wasn’t dancing on tables?’ Rooney – who had earlier sworn to tell the truth while holding a Bible in his hand – said: ‘No, I wasn’t aware of that. It was a lot of negativity amongst a lot of media coverage which as a group of players and as the manager of England he didn’t want that to happen, so he asked would I be able to speak to Jamie and I went and done so.’
Rooney added: ‘I think there was a few things at the time with Rebekah which the leaders of the team asked me to speak to Jamie about. I was at the understanding Rebekah had a column in The Sun newspaper and as I state… I obviously had better things on my mind. It was obviously awkward for me.’
Coleen’s ‘fake’ Instagram posts about gender selection in Mexico and a flooded basement
As part of the ‘sting operation’ Coleen Rooney planted three false stories on her private Instagram account, with the viewers restricted to only Rebekah Vardy’s account, to see whether they would be leaked to The Sun newspaper. One of these stories was posted on April 8, 2019, with Coleen claiming she was travelling to Mexico to look into a procedure to determine a baby’s sex. ‘Let’s go and see what this gender selection is all about,’ Mrs Rooney posted, accompanied with a number of heart emojis
The post that resulted in a newspaper article headlined ‘Wayne and Coleen Rooney’s £20million ‘Morrisons mansion’ flooded during Storm Lorenzo’. The court heard that the post, only visible to Rebekah’s Instagram account, showed a bottle of wine and was captioned: ‘Needed after today… flood in the basement of our new house… when it all seemed to be going so well’
On January 22, 2019, Coleen Rooney posted a picture on her private Instagram, showing damage to her car after a collision. The next day Rebekah Vardy says in a WhatsApp message to Caroline Watt: ‘She’s a nasty b***h x’ and ‘I’ve taken a big dislike to her!… Would love to leak those stories x’. Rebekah claims her comments were not about Coleen
The three stories posted by Coleen Rooney on her private Instagram account as part of her ‘Wagatha Christie’ investigation were revealed in court documents as the bomshell £3million libel trial continued.
Coleen has said she planted the stories – two of which were fake – as part of a ‘sting operation’, with the viewers restricted to only Rebekah Vardy’s account, to see whether they would be leaked to The Sun newspaper.
The true one of these stories revealed in the High Court papers in London this morning was posted by Coleen on January 22, 2019 when she uploaded a picture on the private account, showing damage to her car after a collision.
The next day Rebekah said in a message to her agent Caroline Watt: ‘She’s a nasty b***h x’ and ‘I’ve taken a big dislike to her!… Would love to leak those stories x’. Rebekah claims her comments were not about Coleen.
Rebekah Vardy ‘gave a photographer access to her Instagram account so he could sell stories’
The court had previously heard Rebekah sat behind Coleen to ‘maximise media attention’
Rebekah Vardy gave a photographer access to her Instagram account so he could sell stories, the court heard.
Public relations consultant Penelope Addarewa told how she was in a bistro with ‘a well known’ person who she overheard discussing the matter with photographer Danny Hayward.
She said she was ‘taken aback’ after hearing the ‘revelations.
Mrs Addarewa said the claim was made during a 10-15 minute conversation which took place in the aftermath of Coleen Rooney’s bombshell post and the ‘media storm that followed in October 2019.
She said: ‘They were talking about Coleen and Rebekah and how it’s all going off here’. Danny said Becky was keeping to her story or words to that effect. He was talking a lot about Becky. He was just so blaze. I was just taken aback. I was really surprised.’
The mystery man, known only as ‘Y’ in the court, was speaking to Mr Hayward had not arrived at the meeting but the conversation took place on a speakerphone.
She said in her statement: ‘The topic of Mrs Rooney and Mrs Vardy came up during their ‘chat’.
‘I cannot recall what exactly got them on to the topic but I specifically recall Danny mentioning that he had a means of access to Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account and how he had that means of access for a long time.
‘Their discussion of this topic was promoted by Mrs Rooney’s statement some days earlier. Danny seemed to be speaking as though he even had a means of access to Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account at the time of the meeting.
‘Danny also mentioned that he had been involved in the sale of stories using Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account as the source for the story.
‘Y and Danny did not discuss the specifics of any particular story but he spoke openly in general terms about the fact that stories were sold with Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account as the source.
‘I specifically recall Danny saying that Mrs Vardy was not only aware that Danny had a means of access to her account but also that she was well aware that access had been and was being used to take content and pass it to the press.
‘This much was abundantly clear to me from listening to the exchange, though there was no express discussion of Mrs Vardy personally benefitting from a financial perspective and it would therefore be speculative for me to suggest so.’
She said the ‘boasts’ were said in a ‘blaze’ way. Mrs Adaarewa added: ‘From the discussions between them it was clear to me that they all worked closely together regularly, including Caroline Watt, who had been scheduled to attend the meeting but who had not in fact attended, and that they had worked and collaborated together on what seemed like a number of matters in the past. ‘
She declined to give the name of the mystery man saying it was ‘unfair’ and she did not want to ‘upset his work’. She said the meeting was unrelated.
Day 7 – Rebekah Vardy tears up as libel hearing comes to an end, as her lawyer says Wagatha Christie post led to ‘horrific abuse’, while Rooney’s barrister accusers her of ‘lying under oath’
Rebekah Vardy cried in court again and embraced her solicitor as her jaw-dropping £3million Wagatha Christie libel battle with Coleen Rooney came to an emotional close.
The tearful WAG was seen throwing her hands around solicitor Charlotte Harris following the conclusion of the high-profile legal battle.
The emotional close came after barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC told the court how Mrs Vardy had suffered ‘public abuse and ridicule’ on a ‘massive scale’ as a result of the Coleen Rooney’s Wagatha Christie post.
Closing the Mrs Vardy’s case on the final day of the high-profile libel battle, Mr Tomlinson told the court how his client had received ‘the most horrific abuse’ – including death threats – following the now-famous ‘it’s Rebekah Vardy’s account…’ reveal.
Rebekah Vardy (pictured: Leaving court ) cried in court again and embraced her solicitor as her jaw-dropping £3million Wagatha Christie libel battle with Coleen Rooney came to an emotional close
He also highlighted a number of messages to the high court, including one in which internet trolls had said Ms Vardy’s baby deserved to be ‘put in a microwave and ‘put in an incinerator’.
Describing the impact of the bombshell post by Mrs Rooney on Rebekah, Mr Tomlinson said: ‘There was no urgency whatsoever.
‘Mrs Rooney could have blocked Mrs Vardy and made contact with Mrs Vardy to ask for her views, or she could have waited until after Mrs Vardy had given birth.
‘She did neither and failed to give any proper or reasonable consideration to the possibility that the activity could be happening from Mrs Vardy’s account without Mrs Vardy’s knowledge.
‘The publication of the post to millions of readers was, in the circumstances, wholly unfair to Mrs Vardy who should have been given an opportunity to comment and explain her position in advance. ‘
Mr Tomlinson said as a result Rebekah suffered ‘the most horrific abuse’. Mr Tomlinson said his client was entitled to ‘substantial damages in compensation for this defamatory publication.’
Rebekah blames her publicist for selling stories about Coleen
Ms Vardy blamed her publicist for selling stories about Coleen Rooney and admitted she regretted calling Coleen a ‘c**t’ and her husband Wayne a ‘sh*tehouse’ in abusive messages – but insisted her rival’s Wagatha Christie Instagram reveal was ‘misconceived’.
Mr Tomlinson said ‘Mrs Vardy has obviously made mistakes. One of them, the most serious, was to trust someone she shouldn’t have’ [referring to her agent Caroline Watt]. Another is the way she talked in private conversations with Ms Watt. She accepts she said things which, had she known they would come out in public, she would not have said.’
He added: ‘This is a case about Mrs Vardy and the way she has been treated by thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people on social media… this goes on to this day. Even during this trial she’s continued to receive abuse on social media.’
Rebekah Vardy sketched in the High Court where she was accused of lying and giving ‘implausible’ evidence. She left court for an hour without explanation, returning with some Lucozade, her laptop and her lawyer
The barrister continued: ‘Throughout this case, she (Mrs Vardy) has sought to find out the position. The very first thing she said to Mrs Rooney was ‘send me the evidence, send me the posts. The suggestion that she is trying to hide something is quite wrong’.
Mr Tomlinson said Rebekah’s libel dispute with Coleen was a ‘very simple case’ when ‘one clears away the conspiracy theories’, adding Mrs Vardy would have to be ‘very clever or very cynical’ to have deleted swathes of her WhatsApp back-ups. He also dismissed the suggestion that Rebekah had deleted a handful of ‘incriminating’ messages to save her own skin.
Her agent Caroline Watt’s phone was dropped in the North Sea after the court asked for it to be handed over for examination. When this was referred to as Davy Jones’ Locker last week, Ms Vardy admitted she didn’t know what that meant.
‘Has Mrs Rooney proved that Mrs Vardy leaked the information from her post that she’s accused of leaking?’ Mr Tomlinson said. He added: ‘Mrs Vardy’s case is and always has been that she did not leak the information nor did she authorise anyone else to leak. She does not know to this day what happened,’ Mr Tomlinson said, adding: ‘She does not know where this information came from.’
Rebekah ‘lied under oath’ and ‘cannot be trusted’ in her evidence, Coleen’s lawyer claims
Rebekah Vardy ‘lied under oath’, gave ‘implausible’ evidence that ‘cannot be trusted’ and deleted incriminating WhatsApp messages in a fatally flawed libel action she brought against her rival Coleen that should never have made it to the High Court, Mrs Rooney’s barrister declared.
Celebrity lawyer David Sherborne claimed Mrs Vardy’s case had ‘disintegrated’ during the week-long trial in an eviscerating attack on the wife of Premier League footballer Jamie Vardy at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Mr Vardy also came in for criticism, with Mr Sherborne accusing him of not being willing to be called as a witness so he could avoid giving evidence under oath. Instead he gave a statement outside accusing Wayne Rooney of talking ‘nonsense’ about his wife.
Mrs Rooney’s bronzed barrister, who has also represented Meghan Markle, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Sir Paul McCartney and Sienna Miller, said: ‘It’s not lost on the court, I’m sure, that Mr Vardy was perfectly willing to give a statement not under oath but apparently not willing to provide one for the process of these proceedings.’
Rebekah Vardy has said she was wrong to trust her friend and agent Caroline Watt (left), who has been too ill to attend the trial, accusing her of leaking stories about Coleen
Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne is seen behind an empty bench where Coleen and Wayne Rooney had been seen on previous days
Jamie Vardy (sketched in court on Tuesday) accused Wayne Rooney of talking ‘nonsense’ about an alleged conversation about his wife’s conduct at Euro 2016 on another day of high drama evidence
Mr Sherborne said that Mrs Vardy’s case had ‘almost entirely disintegrated’ over the course of the trial, which entered its seventh and final day.
He added: ‘Anyone could be forgiven for wondering how on earth this case has been allowed to get this far. She [Coleen] finds herself at the end of a seven-day libel trial, and for what?’
Mr Sherborne said: ‘Mrs Vardy was a highly unreliable witness. Her evidence should be treated with the utmost caution. Its accuracy simply cannot be trusted. The contrast in the way Mrs Rooney gave evidence could not have been clearer.’
He said Coleen ‘had been honest’ while Rebekah’s ‘evidence was ‘ill-considered and lacking in candour’.’ He said Mrs Vardy’s memory had been ‘selective’ as she gave evidence.
Referring to the ‘disappearance’ of the WhatsApp messages between Rebekah and her agent and publicist Caroline Watt, central to the case, Mr Sherborne said her explanation that the loss happened during export to her solicitors was ‘impossible.’
The fact Ms Watt’s phone was ‘dropped in the North Sea’ during a trip to Scotland was ‘fishy enough’, Mr Sherborne said.
‘There is only one conclusion and that is that Mrs Vardy deleted the WhatsApp chat and it was a deliberate lie to cover up her wrongdoing. There is no other plausible explanation. The only conclusion the court can reach is that she deleted the WhatsApp chat and then lied under oath about it’, he told Mrs Justice Steyn.
David Sherborne claimed he had proved that Rebekah Vardy had ‘regularly and frequently’ leaked information to The Sun about his client and others in her sphere. He said: ‘Just because she [Vardy] was not the one who pulled the trigger on occasion, it does not mean she was not responsible’.
Mr Sherborne also said the court ‘can and should conclude’ that the loss of WhatsApp messages between Rebekah Vardy and her publicist Caroline Watt was ‘the result of deliberate deletion’. ‘The loss of documents is substantial in this case,’ he said.
Mr Sherborne said these were deliberately deleted – despite claims from Vardy they were lost accidentally.
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