Vardy loses ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel dispute

REBEKAH Vardy has said she is “devastated” by the ruling in the “Wagatha Christie” High Court libel claim she brought against Coleen Rooney.

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

The wife of former England footballer Wayne Rooney publicly claimed Mrs Vardy’s account was the source behind three stories in The Sun newspaper featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram stories.

Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, denied leaking stories to the media and sued for libel, while Mrs Rooney defended the claim on the basis that her post was “substantially true”.

In a much-anticipated ruling yesterday, Mrs Justice Steyn found in Mrs Rooney’s favour and dismissed the claim against her.

After the judgment, Mrs Vardy thanked her supporters and said she was “extremely sad and disappointed at the decision that the judge has reached”. She continued: “It is not the result that I had expected, nor believe was just. I brought this action to vindicate my reputation and am devastated by the judge’s finding.”

The TV personality reiterated that she and her family – including her then unborn baby – were sent “vile abuse” after the viral post and during the trial.

In her own statement following the judgment, Mrs Rooney welcomed her victory and said she had “no ill will” towards Mrs Vardy.

She said: “It was not a case I ever sought or wanted. 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. Both before and after my social media posts in October 2019, I made every effort to avoid the need for such a drawn-out and public court case.”

Finding in favour of Mrs Rooney, Mrs Justice Steyn said it was “likely” that Mrs Vardy’s agent at the time, Caroline Watt, “undertook the direct act” of passing the information to The Sun.

But she added: “Nonetheless, the evidence ... clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney’s posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt.”

In her 76-page judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn said Mrs Vardy’s evidence was “manifestly inconsistent” with contemporaneous documentary evidence on “many occasions”.

The judge added: “I find that it is, unfortunately, necessary to treat Mrs Vardy’s evidence with very considerable caution.”

She also found it was “likely” that Mrs Vardy deliberately deleted her WhatsApp chat with Ms Watt and that Ms Watt deliberately dropped her phone into the North Sea shortly after it was ordered to be searched.

It is believed the total legal costs of the case will be in the region of £3 million, most of which will now be borne by Mrs Vardy.