Last man on earth to learn about the Wagatha drama? Me, says Wazza!
THE atmosphere in Court 13 is febrile, expectant, excited. Fevered, even. Because, finally, after a long week of lugging giant Fendi handbags about for his wife, bursting out of his school uniform and looking catatonically bored, Wayne Rooney is on the stand and looking rather good in a smart blue suit that, for once, fits perfectly.
Happily, he is not here to discuss Derby County’s relegation, his surprising penchant for salads – yes, really – or any of his extramarital hiccups. Just to establish three simple things. Firstly, that at the much-discussed 2016 Euros and on the instructions of England manager Roy Hodgson, Rooney had ‘a word’ with Jamie Vardy to ask him to ‘calm down’ his wife, who was penning a column for The Sun at the time.
Secondly, whether, before Coleen’s big reveal, he was aware of her brilliant sleuthing and the ‘Scousetrap’ she had set to snare unsuspecting Rebekah Vardy.
And, finally, how he and Coleen had weathered the press intrusion.
And goodness me, he starts well. A ripple of surprise goes round the court as he stands here, strong as an ox and calm as a sloth in the sun.
He’s almost as good as Coleen. Dignified, too – as he confirms that, yes, his private Instagram handle is ‘wazzaroon08’ (not that he’s been active for a while) – and does everything in his power to avoid looking at his former England team-mate.
Because, after a six-day absence and stealing a teeny bit of Wayne’s football legend thunder, Jamie Vardy has finally turned up. (And it must be said he’s looking pretty darn hot in his perfectly cut suit, shiny shoes and artfully swished hair.)
Perhaps that’s where Rebekah shot off early yesterday afternoon with a face like thunder in her lemon meringue suit. Maybe she roared home to winkle him out of their luxury £3million mansion near Grantham. Or perhaps he was always coming – after all, Leicester City do have an upcoming match against Chelsea.
WHATEVER. He’s here. And a good thing too, because while he’s been playing a blinder for Leicester City with his best scoring run of the season – four of his 14 goals coming this week – we all know poor Rebekah’s had the week from hell; alternately crying, sighing and, as David ‘Shere Khan’ Sherborne would have it, lying.
Not now though! She’s a woman transformed – glinting and glowing as she and Jamie hold hands under the table. But, anyway, back to Wayne who, as the cross-examination continues, is handling himself well in the box – if not with quite the flair he displayed with his 78thminute bicycle kick that did for Manchester City in the 2011 derby. So when hoary old Hugh Tomlinson QC dares to suggest the 2016 Rooney/Vardy chat never happened, Wayne bats him away with his clean scouse tenor.
‘I’m sat here under oath and I’m telling you 100 per cent that I spoke to Mr Vardy.’ He even adds a dash of evidential garnish by explaining he was drinking a coffee at the time, while Vardy sipped a Red Bull.
On we move to Coleen’s months of deep investigation. Where things take a surprising turn.
Because, by his own account, Wayne knew nothing about it. Not a jot. Nothing about the fake posts to trip up Vardy. Nor her sleuthing masterplan or the 13 sentences so carefully crafted in Coleen’s jotter. Not a single thing about her planned ‘big reveal’.
‘My wife is an independent woman who does her own things,’ is all he’ll say. ‘I didn’t want to get involved.’ They’ve been together for 19 years but, extraordinarily, it turns
THE strength in depth of the Mail’s outstanding young journalists has been recognised with a triple triumph at this year’s prestigious 30 to Watch awards.
From a record number of entries, judges at the MHP Mischief Awards picked out the Daily Mail’s Chief Political Correspondent Harriet Line, 29, as a winner in the coveted Politics category for her exclusive story about how Geoffrey Cox was earning hundreds of thousands of pounds in the Caribbean while sitting as an MP.
Judges said the winners’ entries represented ‘the very best in political reporting’ and were ‘prime examples of excellence in journalism’.
There was further success for The Mail on Sunday’s Molly Clayton, 23, in the News category.
Judges commended her outstanding investigations into Chinese designer fakes, an encrypted app where you can buy cocaine, and the first sexual assault on Facebook’s metaverse, praising the winners’ reporting for its ‘tenacity’ and ‘long-standing impact’.
Mail on Sunday City Reporter Luke
Barr, 27, was a winner in the ‘hotly contested’ City & Business category for a string of exclusives including the revelation that Mike Ashley was suing financier Amanda Staveley.
Judges said the winners’ entries included ‘in-depth investigations, agenda-setting exclusives and thoughtprovoking interviews’ which explained ‘complex financial news to a wide audience’. With the best scoops, unmissable supplements, brilliant features and award-winning sport, the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday continue to invest in the quality journalism which has made them Britain’s biggest-selling – and best – national papers. And all thanks to you, our loyal army of readers.