A bitter legal battle between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney has taken another twist, with the High Court learning that messages sent by the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy saw Rooney – who is married to Manchester United legend Wayne – referred to as a “nasty b*tch” and a “c*nt” who “needs to get over herself”.
The partners of two ex-England international frontmen are embroiled in a libel dispute regarding allegations of stories being leaked to the press.
In what has become known as the ‘Wagatha Christie’ case, Rooney has accused Vardy of passing stories to The Sun newspaper that are based on information which could only have been acquired from posts on a private Instagram account.
What are the allegations from Rooney?
Rooney claims to have operated a sting operation in 2019 that saw her slowly restrict the number of people that could see her Instagram posts until only Vardy was left.
When news continued to leak out to the national media, the wife of Derby County’s current manager claimed to have found her mole.
She posted on social media: “For a few years now someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing The Sun newspaper of my private posts and stories.
“There has been so much information given to them about me, my friends and my family - all without my permission or knowledge. After a long time of trying to figure out who it could be, for various reasons, I had a suspicion.
“To try and prove this, I came up with an idea. I blocked everyone from viewing my Instagram Stories except one account. (Those on my private account must have been wondering why I haven’t had stories there for a while).
“Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into The Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did! The story about gender selection in Mexico, the story about returning to TV and then the latest story about basement flooding in my new house.
“It’s been tough keeping it to myself and not making any comment at all, especially when the stories have been leaked, however I had to. Now I know for certain which account/individual it’s come from.
“It’s... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Vardy is said to have responded to those allegations by hitting back at her accuser in a series of foul-mouthed messages that were disclosed at a court hearing on Tuesday.
Vardy’s former agent, Caroline Watt, is also alleged to have had an ongoing working relationship with The Sun that allowed information to be leaked.
She is alleged to have said when seeing Rooney’s post calling out those that were operating behind her back: “Such a victim. Poor Coleen … And it wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me.”
The bigger picture
Vardy has strenuously denied the allegations made against her by Rooney and has run up a multi-million pound legal bill in bringing a libel case.
A lot of potential evidence in the case has, however, gone missing or been lost, with Watt claiming to have accidentally dropped her phone into the North Sea shortly after Rooney’s lawyers requested access to it.
“Coincidentally, around the same time, all media files from Mrs Vardy’s WhatsApp conversation with Ms Watt also bizarrely disappeared (and from all backups), whilst apparently in the process of exporting it to her solicitors,” said Rooney’s lawyers.
Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has said that his “WhatsApp was hacked and all conversations were deleted and could not be restored”, while a laptop used by Rebekah Vardy around the time of the incidents in question “no longer functions”.
The libel case is due to go to trial later this year.
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