COLEEN: Rebekah messages about me were ‘evil’
WAG tells trial about tracing leaks
COLEEN Rooney has called messages about her between Rebekah Vardy and her agent as “evil and uncalled for” in the Wagatha Christie High Court battle.
The court has previously heard that Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt had lengthy WhatsApp exchanges about Rooney’s personal life, in which Rooney was allegedly branded a “nasty b **** ”.
Finishing her evidence in the women’s high-profile libel trial, Rooney, 36, said: ”The messages that went on between them were just evil and uncalled for.”
“There’s no need for it, I’ve never done anything to them,” she added.
In a viral social media post in October 2019, Rooney said she had carried out a “sting operation” and accused Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press – prompting her to be dubbed “Wagatha Christie”.
Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies leaking stories and is suing her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Rooney is defending the claim on the basis her post was “substantially true”.
Towards the end of her cross examination by Vardy’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC yesterday, Rooney was asked about the aftermath of her “reveal” post and Vardy’s response. The barrister said: “She makes it clear to you that it wasn’t her, doesn’t she?”
“She says she has zero interest in what’s going on in my life, which I believe is totally untrue,” Rooney replied. “She talks about me a lot... so that was a lie.”
The footballer’s wife later said she had a lot of people contacting her immediately after the post and Mr Tomlinson said people online were calling her “Wagatha Christie”.
She responded: “Yeah, which I just think is ridiculous.
“I got a lot of people sending me pictures, screenshots and obviously people didn’t realise how serious what was behind it was. I felt it was hard and people I trusted and people I had let into my circle were going against me.”
She added: “I have never spoke about this until this case, so I haven’t dwelt on it, to be honest with you I have hated every minute of it.”
Later asked about the abuse Vardy received on social media after the reveal post, Rooney said: “I know and it is disgusting. I would never ever wish that upon anyone.
“I was getting trolled as well but obviously Mrs Vardy’s was disgusting, the things they were saying ... the world we live in today and the trolling is terrible.”
She told the court she did not say anything further about her investigation, either to Vardy or publicly, because of a legal letter she had received from Vardy’s lawyers.
Rooney also told the High Court she “had suspicions” that Vardy’s Instagram account was responsible for leaking information to journalists when she unfollowed her on the social media site.
She said the pair were “not good friends” and that if someone had unfollowed her, she would “probably just forget about it and not message” the person, adding: “I wouldn’t have been that bothered really.”
She said: “I felt it was suspicious. Obviously, I had suspicions in other ways, this just added to the suspicions that I had.”
The court also heard from Harpreet Robertson, a former ticketing manager and family liaison officer for the Football Association, who was questioned about the seating arrangements at a Euro 2016 match attended by both women.
She told the court she believed Vardy made a “choice” to sit in seats behind Rooney at the match but added: “I don’t know if it’s deliberate.”
In her own witness statement, 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.”
Rooney’s husband Wayne is set to take the stand today.
There’s no need for it.. I’ve never done anything to them COLEEN ON VARDY’S MESSAGES TO AGENT