Vardy’s Wagatha twist: My agent may have been the Coleen Rooney leak
REBEKAH Vardy has dramatically blamed her agent for leaking stories about Coleen Rooney in a sensational twist in the Wagatha Christie libel battle.
Coleen’s barrister said there had been a “remarkable” collapse in Rebekah’s case after she submitted an updated witness statement, the High Court heard yesterday
David Sherborne said Rebekah, 40, raised fears that Caroline Watt may have been the source of the stories derived from Coleen’s Instagram account.
Rebekah and Coleen – wives of former England footballers Jamie Vardy and Wayne Rooney – have been at loggerheads over the “leaks” since 2019, when mum-of-four Coleen, now 36, carried out her own investigation.
In written submissions, Mr Sherborne said that Rebekah’s new statement “suggests Ms Watt was the source of the leak but claims that (Rebekah) ‘did not authorise or condone her’ ”.
“It now appears...that she too ‘believes’ that MsWatt is the source,” Mr Sherborne added.
The barrister continued: “The collapse of Mrs Vardy’s case over the last day has been remarkable.
“As of the evening of April 27 2022, in an abrupt change of position to her pleaded case since the outset, Mrs Vardy appears now to accept Mrs Rooney’s case: that Caroline Watt, Mrs Vardy’s close friend and PR, was the conduit by which stories from the defendant’s private Instagram account were leaked to The Sun through her access via RebekahVardy’s account.
Betrayed
“It has become undeniably obvious that Ms Watt is the source and Mrs Vardy, true to form, says, ‘It wasn’t me, I didn’t realise and I didn’t know anything about what was going on’.” He added that mumof-five Rebekah “says ‘how awful it is to be betrayed’...that is exactly what Coleen would say, that she has been betrayed by someone.” Coleen’s lawyers previously claimed that Rebekah had leaked information to The Sun either directly or through Watt “acting on her instruction or with her knowing approval”. But Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Rebekah, told the court that his client’s new statement did not contain “any change whatever in the pleaded case”. In his written arguments, Mr Tomlinson said there had “been important developments that have occurred” since Rebekah – whose husband plays for Leicester City – gave her first written statement, but did not explain what they were. He continued: “It is appropriate for the court and the defendant to have the claimant’s evidence on these new developments in a further witness statement so that the claimant’s position is made clear. “These developments are very recent. They were completely unexpected and outside the claimant’s control… it has taken her time to process and consider the new
information.” Ms Watt was referred to at an earlier hearing after the High Court heard that WhatsApp messages between her and Rebekah had been disclosed.
Texts heard in court included Rebekah referring to someone, whose identity is disputed, as a “nasty b **** ”.
The court also previously heard that MsWatt’s phone had “regrettably” fallen into the North Sea before further information could be extracted from it.
Ms Watt had been expected to give evidence at the upcoming trial, however, the High
Court was told at a hearing earlier this month that she was “not fit” to give oral evidence.
Coleen, married to Derby County manager Wayne, accused fellow WAG Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her personal life after carrying out a monthslong “sting operation” to find the culprit. Coleen, who has four boys, was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” when she publicly claimed Rebekah was sharing private stories she had posted to friends on Instagram.
The full trial is expected to take place next month.