Rebekah Vardy vs Coleen Rooney: 'Wagatha Christie' trial finally set to begin in High Court
Coleen Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy of leaking "false stories" about her private life to the media in October 2019; Mrs Vardy denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for libel; The trial is expected to last seven days
Tuesday 10 May 2022 10:54, UK
Image:Rebekah Vardy (right) is suing Coleen Rooney (left) for libel after she publicly accused her of leaking stories about her private life
The high-profile libel case - branded "Wagatha Christie" - between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney is finally set to go to trial on Tuesday.
The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney was dubbed "Wagatha Christie" when she publicly claimed her fellow footballer's wife shared three fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.
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The fake stories included Mrs Rooney travelling to Mexico for a "gender selection" procedure, her planning to return to TV and the basement flooding at her home.
Mrs Rooney wrote: "I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them.
Mrs Rooney's post was widely shared and heavily parodied on social media at the time, including by the Twitter account of Jeremy Corbyn, then-leader of the Labour Party.
Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for libel.
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Under English defamation law, the burden of proof now will be on Mrs Rooney to prove that her post was "substantially true".
Now the full trial is expected to begin at London's Royal Courts of Justice following months of preliminary hearings - none of which have been attended by either Mrs Vardy or Mrs Rooney.
'Wagatha Christie' timeline
September 2017 to October 2019 - The Sun newspaper runs a number of articles about Mrs Rooney, including that she travelled to Mexico to look into baby "gender selection" treatment, her plan to revive her TV career and the flooding of her basement.
October 9th 2019 - Mrs Rooney uses social media to accuse Mrs Vardy of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids. The public dispute makes headlines around the world, with the hashtag #WagathaChristie trending.
February 13th 2020 - In a tearful appearance on ITV's Loose Women, Mrs Vardy says the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she "ended up in hospital three times". Mrs Rooney says in a statement that she does not want to "engage in further public debate".
June 23th 2020 - It emerges that Mrs Vardy has launched libel proceedings against Mrs Rooney.
November 19-20th 2020 - The libel battle has its first High Court hearing in London. A judge rules that Mrs Rooney's October 2019 post "clearly identified" Mrs Vardy as being "guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust".
February 8-9th 2022 - A series of explosive messages between Mrs Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt - which Mrs Rooney's lawyers allege were about her – are revealed at a preliminary court hearing.
February 14th - Mrs Rooney is refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Ms Watt for misuse of private information to be heard alongside the libel battle. A High Court judge, Mrs Justice Steyn, says the bid was brought too late and previous opportunities to make the claim had not been taken.
April 13th - Ms Watt is not fit to give oral evidence at the upcoming libel trial, the High Court is told as the case returns for another hearing.
April 29th - Mrs Vardy "appears to accept" that her agent was the source of allegedly leaked stories, Mrs Rooney's barrister David Sherborne tells the High Court.
The case first went to court in November 2020, with a judge finding that Mrs Rooney's post "clearly identified" Mrs Vardy as being "guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust".
The judge, now Lord Justice Warby, also said that "the element of suspense introduced by the multiple dots seems to me designed to raise expectations of a dramatic revelation".
Since then, several hearings have taken place to prepare for the trial, including one where texts between Mrs Vardy and agent Caroline Watt emerged, in one of which Mrs Vardy called someone a "nasty b****".
Image:Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy representing England
In February, Mrs Rooney's barrister David Sherborne told the High Court that a "series of unfortunate events" have happened over the evidence in the case, notably Ms Watt's phone falling into the North Sea.
Mrs Vardy's lawyers have said she has "nothing to hide".
Most recently, the High Court was told by Mr Sherborne that Mrs Vardy "appears to accept" that Ms Watt was the source of leaked stories about Coleen Rooney that were published in The Sun newspaper.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Mrs Vardy, told the court that his client's new witness statement did not contain "any change whatever in the pleaded case".
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