Round two!
COLEEN v REBEKAH
The Wagatha Christie saga continues, as a judge refused permission for Coleen Rooney to bring a High Court claim against Rebekah Vardy’s PR, Caroline Watt, despite evidence suggesting that Ms Watt admitted to leaking stories. And now, Coleen has been ordered to pay £65,000 towards Ms Watt’s legal fees – arguably a drop in the ocean when legal bills are thought to be already at £1.8 million.
Back in 2019 Coleen, 35, accused Rebekah, 40, of sharing fake stories she’d deliberately posted on her private Instagram account to the press – something Rebekah, who plans to sue the fellow WAG for libel in a trial set for May, has denied.
Last week saw a string of incriminating Whatsapp messages between Rebekah and her PR presented in court, with a message sent by Ms Watt reading, ‘It wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me,’ accompanied by a laughing face emoji, while messages from Rebekah’s phone labelled Coleen a ‘nasty b **** ’ and ‘such a d***’ along with, ‘What a joke! All I’ve ever been is nice to her though! Even when Wayne was being a c***.’ David Sherborne, on behalf of Coleen, deemed, ‘The inference to be drawn from that is that Mrs Vardy knew perfectly well what she was doing, and was behind it and was encouraging it.’
But, despite the new evidence, the court ruled against team Coleen’s request to add a claim against Ms Watt for misuse of private information alongside the libel trial. And, while it may have been a win for team Vardy this time, Coleen’s lawyers have been permitted to amend their defence to include an allegation that Ms Vardy, through Ms Watt, gave information to The Sun about an unnamed professional footballer. It’s now just a waiting game until May…