'Wagatha Christie' ruling: Rebekah Vardy loses and fails to restore reputation

The multimillion pound court case that had gone on in May between two footballer's wives finally came to an end on Friday 29th July 2022. The judge, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that Rebekah Vardy’s libel claim had failed. She lost the chance to rebuild her reputation and took Coleen Rooney to court for a lot of money - for nothing.

As the BBC reports, in her ruling, Mrs Justice Steyn said it was "likely" that Rebekah Vardy's then-agent, Caroline Watt, "undertook the direct act" of passing the information to The Sun newspaper. "Nonetheless, the evidence... clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it," she added.No chance of Vardy clearing her name.

The trial continued for weeks between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy. Dubbed the 'Wagatha Christie case', these two wives of English footballers went to High Court with a trial that began on Tuesday 10th May. The case saw accusations, investigations, admissions - but also pidgeons, chipolatas, emojis as well as a panic over the identity of one Davy Jones. There was an awful lot of hype over the case - especially the nature of the claims and the responses in court. Read on for more info and photos about the beginning of it all, the investigation, the allegations and the hearings.

Coleen Rooney's lawyers claimed that Rebekah Vardy leaked Coleen's personal information to The Sun - if not directly, then through her friend and agent.

Vardy was suing Rooney for libel over her allegations in a trial that would last seven days and be decided at the end by a judge - not a jury. A libel or slander lawsuit seeks monetary damages for harm caused by the statement, such as pain and suffering, damage to the plaintiff's reputation, lost wages etc.

Rooney claimed that 3 separate stories from her Instagram account had been leaked to the Sun newspaper. The fake stories posted included her plan to return to TV, a basement flood and travelling to Mexico for a "gender selection" procedure. The Sun got them all.

Rooney said she had planted this series of fake stories about herself on her personal Instagram stories account (stories being posts on the social media app which are no longer visable after 24 hours).

In an attempt to discover the culprit, Rooney said she had altered the privacy settings to make the posts visible to just one person's account - Vardy’s.

In the post where she revealed her "sting operation", Rooney wrote: "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."

After Coleen Rooney's 'sting operation' the press went into a frenzy - which quickly led to her to be called 'Wagatha Cristie'.

Vardy’s barrister, Hugh Tomlinson QC, denied his client had personally leaked any stories to the Sun, nor had she approved or condoned “anyone else to do so on her behalf”.

Photo: Twitter @RebekahVardy

According to The BBC, a pre-trial hearing was held less than two weeks before the trial began. Mrs Rooney's barrister said Mrs Vardy then "appeared to accept" that it was, in fact, Ms Watt was the source of leaked stories. Watts is Vardy's close friend, confidant and agent. Ms Watt has denied that it was her who leaked the stories - but is unable to appear in court due to bad health.

Coleen Rooney's representation said that Mrs Vardy's connection to Ms Watt was "like hiring a hitman or woman", the BBC continued to quote from the pre-trial.
He said: "Just because you're not the person who gets their hands dirty, doesn't mean you're not equally responsible."

The Guardian reported that the court heard this episode is not the first time information has been leaked by Vardy. Reportedly, Rebekah failed in an attempt to sell a story about another footballer who was caught drink driving.

Coleen Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy of conducting a “deliberate and calculated” campaign to destroy evidence prior to their “Wagatha Christie” libel trial, as claimed in an article in the Guardian.

Rooney’s lawyers claimed possibly important WhatsApp messages involving Vardy had been deleted manually, referring to an unfortunate incident with Watt's mobile phone. Vardy’s agent accidentally dropped her mobile phone off the side of a boat in the North Sea, then Rooney's lawyers also pointed out how Vardy’s own IT expert lost the password to a backup of her WhatsApp account.

"To borrow from Wilde, to lose one significant set of documents may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two, carelessness, but to lose 10? That must be concealment,"
Mr Sherborne, Rooney's representation, said in a written statement, according to the BBC. He continued to state how 'unfortunate' that it fell into the sea "within days" of the court ordering that it should be searched for disclosure.

According to a report made by the Guardian, Rebekah Vardy 'admitted' she knew Ms Watts was discussing private information about Coleen Rooney to a journalist at the Sun.

The Guardian also directly quoted the exchange between Rooney's barrister and Vardy who was in the witness box. Rooney’s barrister asked Vardy: “You didn’t object at any stage to the fact that Ms Watt was plainly passing on information?”
“I didn’t think she was passing on any new information.”
“Take the word ‘new’ out of it. Did you, or did you not, know that Ms Watt was passing on information from Mrs Rooney’s private account?”

Vardy replied: “She was talking to Mr Halls about information that was already being discussed.”

Pride and reputations were at stake on both sides. Mrs Rooney needed to prove that it was in fact Mrs Vardy who leaked the stories. Vardy's lawyer, Mr Tomlinson said that his client "needs to be able to clear her name through this case, so she can move on from this terrible episode." It seems she will not move on from this terrible episode.

The BBC quoted him as saying how the trial has become "a source of "entertainment" in the media. He added, "this is far from being an entertaining case. It has been profoundly distressing and disturbing."

Football legend Wayne Rooney gave evidence in court in his wife’s libel case against Rebekha Vardy. Jamie Vardy also had some harsh words for Wayne outside the court.

The Manchester United legend told the High Court that the England manager Roy Hodgson asked him to speak to the Leicester City striker to get him to “calm down” his wife Rekebah, whose media work was said to be causing a distraction during Euro 2016.

Ms Robertson, a former employee with the FA, said the practice at Euro 2016 was to “spread out” the wives and girlfriends attending football matches “to prevent the press from taking group shots that garnered more public interest”. Vardy, as many know, sat directly behind Mrs Rooney.

A former FA employee gave evidence this week claiming that Vardy's former statement saying that Coleen Rooney had sat in her seat so she took the closest one there was, is simply untrue.

In a statement issued by Vardy's representatives outside the court on Tuesday, the footballer said: "Wayne is talking nonsense."

After yet another stressful and complicated day at court, the Vardys left court early - with her lawyer saying, “Mrs Vardy isn’t feeling very well”.

Rebekah Vardy may have left court early, but she hadn't backed down on the case. In a statement she gave to the Daily Mail, at the time the accusation was made, she said: “Arguing with Coleen is like arguing with a pigeon. You can tell it that you are right and it is wrong but it’s still going to s--t in your hair.”

Rebekah Vardy was born Rebekah Miranda Nicholson, on February 17, 1982, in Norwich city, England. A TV personality and model, the 'wife and girlfriend' has been on a few reality shows including 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' and 'Dancing on Ice' just last year.

Rebekah Vardy has 3 children with husband Jamie. Then she also has two more children from previous relationships: the father of the first child is undisclosed - but she has a son with lesser-known footballer, Luke Foster.

Rebekah met her husband while a nightclub promoter - planning his birthday party in 2014. They eventually started dating, and 3 months later, she became pregnant with their daughter, Sofia. Rebekah and Jamie had a lavish star-studded wedding in 2016 at ‘Peckforton Castle’ in Cheshire.

Aside from her appearances on reality series, Vardy is also known for speaking candidly and openly about her mental health struggles and dealing with post-partum depression. She appeared on Loose Women and generated a lot of support from viewers for highlighting the delicate issue.

Rebekah and Coleen knew each other through their status as wives of Premier League footballers and they attending football matches together to cheer on their respective husbands. Many may remember the two sitting side by side during the England v Wales game at the Euro 2016 championships. That once sweet relationship has certainly turned sour.

Liverpool born Coleen Rooney started dating her man back when she was 16. They had already known each other for four years. Wayne's mother was a cleaner at the high school Coleen attended.

The couple, who picked up many headlines as Wayne Rooney's football career took off, got married in Portofino, Italy on 12 June 2008. They currently live in Prestbury, Cheshire, in a £4 million Neo-Georgian mega mansion - Wayne now retired from playing the beautiful game and turning to management. They have four children together.

According to The Mirror, legal costs for both women were set to hit around '£500,000 on each side'. An expensive case that led the judge to make a final decision and throw it all away. Coleen's investigation was a fruitful one.