The Scotsman

Vardy starts crying in witness box and denies being prepared to lie under oath

- By TOM PILGRIM newsdeskts@scotsman.com

Rebekah Vardy was briefly moved to tears in the witness box during her second day of evidence at the High Court, in which she defended messages sent between her and her agent.

The mother-of-five faced around five hours of questionin­g, as the trial in the libel dispute between her and fellow footballer's wife Coleen Rooney continued.

Mrs Vardy, whose evidence was repeatedly challenged by Mrs Rooney's barrister David Sherborne, rejected a suggestion she was building a relationsh­ip with the Sun newspaper for numerous exclusives.

She also denied that photos of her and Mrs Rooney together at a Euro 2016 match were a "set up".

Mrs Vardy, who was watched throughout by Mrs Rooney who sat metres away in the courtroom, at one point grew tearful at the start of a question about some of the abuse she and her family have received.

In a viral social media post in October 2019, Mrs Rooney, 36, said she had carried out a "sting operation" and accused Mrs Vardy, 40, of leaking "false stories" about her private life to the press.

Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer's wife for libel, while Mrs Rooney is defending the claim on the basis her post was "substantia­lly true".

Earlier, Mrs Vardy denied being prepared "to lie under oath" when she said conversati­ons with her agent about leaking informatio­n and receiving payment were "never serious".

Mrs Vardy claimed she had no knowledge of agent Caroline Watt "monitoring" Mrs Rooney's Instagram account.

"She's never said once that she was stalking her account," Mrs Vardy said.

She later added: "I didn't know she was intentiona­lly going through people's Instagram to check... informatio­n."

Mrs Vardy also said the pair were "gossiping" or she was "just joking" when questioned about messages between them allegedly about leaking informatio­n on a cheating footballer in 2019 and former Leicester City player Riyad Mahrez missing training in 2018.

A message sent by Mrs Vardy to Ms Watt in 2019 labelling someone a "nasty bitch" "defheat

initely wasn't about Coleen," Mrs Vardy told the court, adding that she thought it referred to model Danielle Lloyd.

In her written evidence, Mrs Vardy has denied leaking stories about Ms Lloyd.

At one point Mr Sherborne referred to an article in the Sun from 2017 that showed Mrs Vardy in black lingerie "posing in a bed with a huge snake". As he turned to the article in one of the dozens of folders used in the trial, he warned "all those here who have a snake phobia" not to turn the page.

Mrs Vardy was earlier questioned by Mr Sherborne about what he suggested were inconsiste­ncies between her evidence in court and her witness statement.

In her written statement, Mrs Vardy said: "I have sometimes been caught up in the of the moment during conversati­ons with Caroline where I have talked about 'leaks' and payment, but these conversati­ons were never serious, and Caroline would have understood that.

"I have never been paid for private informatio­n about anybody apart from myself or my family."

 ?? ?? 0 Rebekah Vardy leaves the Royal Courts of Justice during the so called Wagatha Christie trial
0 Rebekah Vardy leaves the Royal Courts of Justice during the so called Wagatha Christie trial

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