LONDON - Rebekah Vardy “had no choice” but to bring a libel claim against Coleen Rooney, the High Court has been told. Mrs Vardy’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson said she needed to “establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation”.
She is suing Mrs Rooney for claiming that she leaked private information to The Sun newspaper in 2019.
As the so-called Wagatha Christie trial got under way on Tuesday, Mrs Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne said the case was “essentially about betrayal”. Mrs Vardy is expected to give evidence on Tuesday or Wednesday, while Mrs Rooney is due to do so Friday. Her husband, the former England footballer Wayne, is due to give evidence as a witness next week.
The row broke out in 2019 after Mrs Rooney posted online that fake stories had been leaked to The Sun, which she claimed could only have been seen by Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account. She was later dubbed Wagatha Christie after saying she had carried out an investigation to find out who was behind the leaks. Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, strenuously denied being the source of the leaks.
She posted her defence on social media at the time, saying a number of people had access to her accounts. When no public apology came from Mrs Rooney, Mrs Vardy, in June 2020, decided to sue her for libel. Mr Tomlinson, for Mrs Vardy, said on Tuesday that, if information had been leaked, “this was not something that was done with Mrs Vardy’s knowledge or authority”.
He said there was “no information” in any evidence to demonstrate that Mrs Vardy had even viewed Mrs Rooney’s Instagram posts during the alleged “sting operation”.
The fake stories posted by Mrs Rooney included planning her return to TV, travelling to Mexico for a “gender selection” procedure and her basement flooding.
Mr Tomlinson said the affair and subsequent libel case had garnered huge press coverage and had become a source of “entertainment” in the media.
But he added: “This is far from being an entertaining case. It has been profoundly distressing and disturbing.”
Mr Tomlinson added: “Mrs Vardy needs to be able to clear her name through this case, so she can move on from this terrible episode.”
He said that as a result of Mrs Rooney’s post, Mrs Vardy, who was seven months pregnant at the time - and her family were subjected to abuse, including posts saying she should die.
She is suing Mrs Rooney for claiming that she leaked private information to The Sun newspaper in 2019.
As the so-called Wagatha Christie trial got under way on Tuesday, Mrs Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne said the case was “essentially about betrayal”. Mrs Vardy is expected to give evidence on Tuesday or Wednesday, while Mrs Rooney is due to do so Friday. Her husband, the former England footballer Wayne, is due to give evidence as a witness next week.
The row broke out in 2019 after Mrs Rooney posted online that fake stories had been leaked to The Sun, which she claimed could only have been seen by Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account. She was later dubbed Wagatha Christie after saying she had carried out an investigation to find out who was behind the leaks. Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, strenuously denied being the source of the leaks.
She posted her defence on social media at the time, saying a number of people had access to her accounts. When no public apology came from Mrs Rooney, Mrs Vardy, in June 2020, decided to sue her for libel. Mr Tomlinson, for Mrs Vardy, said on Tuesday that, if information had been leaked, “this was not something that was done with Mrs Vardy’s knowledge or authority”.
He said there was “no information” in any evidence to demonstrate that Mrs Vardy had even viewed Mrs Rooney’s Instagram posts during the alleged “sting operation”.
The fake stories posted by Mrs Rooney included planning her return to TV, travelling to Mexico for a “gender selection” procedure and her basement flooding.
Mr Tomlinson said the affair and subsequent libel case had garnered huge press coverage and had become a source of “entertainment” in the media.
But he added: “This is far from being an entertaining case. It has been profoundly distressing and disturbing.”
Mr Tomlinson added: “Mrs Vardy needs to be able to clear her name through this case, so she can move on from this terrible episode.”
He said that as a result of Mrs Rooney’s post, Mrs Vardy, who was seven months pregnant at the time - and her family were subjected to abuse, including posts saying she should die.