Wagatha Christie: Rooney v Vardy continues

The court hearing for a libel claim from Rebekah Vardy against Colleen Rooney entered its second day today.


The court hearing for a libel claim from Rebekah Vardy against Colleen Rooney entered its second day today, February 9.
A two-day hearing this week will decide what evidence can be used in the trial in May, with Mrs Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne telling the court that witness statements are not ready.
He said: “The ingredients have not even been stirred yet.”
In 2019, stories from Mrs Rooney’s personal life was leaked to papers and, after using a trap on her Instagram Stories, she publicly claimed the culprit was Mrs Vardy.
Mrs Vardy denies the allegations and has claimed that she is not the only person to have access to her social media accounts.
However, Mrs Rooney’s barrister has claimed that Mrs Vardy had “an established history and practice” of leaking information to the media, “not just of [Coleen] Rooney but also others.”
Via her lawyer, Mrs Rooney said that Mrs Vardy’s agent Caroline Watt should be brought into the case after the court heard of WhatsApp messages in which Watt admitted to leaking information about Coleen Rooney.
Sherborne said that days after a story about Mrs Rooney’s car was published in The Sun, Mrs Rooney Tweeted saying it was “sad” someone who followed her was “betraying” her.
Mrs Vardy and Watt discussed the Tweet in a private WhatsApp conversation where Mrs Watt said to Vardy “It wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me,” with a laughing face emoji.
Mr Sherborne said: “What we say is that 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.”
He said Mrs Vardy and her “sidekick” Ms Watt were constantly looking at Mrs Rooney’s private Instagram stories, looking for ones to leak.
Sherborne also told the court that Watt constructed a “lie” to use “if it became obvious Mrs Vardy was responsible for the leaks, which it did.”
They are accused of creating this plan after Mrs Rooney deleted Mrs Vardy as a follower on her Instagram after the post about her car crash.
Yesterday, February 8, the high court was informed that some of the private messages relating to the case are missing, with Watt claiming that she had accidentally dropped her phone into the North Sea when the boat she was in had hit a wave.
Mrs Rooney’s Barrister has called for financial details of payments Mrs Vardy received from The Sun to be disclosed, telling the high court hearing that Ms Watt sent Mrs Vardy a text saying “I’ve got £500 for you from the Sun” and asked her to send over her bank account details.
A separate message from Mrs Vardy to Ms Watt allegedly said: “We still need to make money.”
Mr Sherborne said: “There are a number of ways in which the payment, we say, is relevant to the case.”


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Written by

Laura Kemp

Originally from UK, Laura is based in Axarquia and is a writer for the Euro Weekly News covering news and features. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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