Everything you’ve missed in the Rebekah Vardy vs Coleen Rooney Wagatha Christie libel trial – day by dayMel EvansEntertainment – Metro

It’s been a wild ride, but today the Rebekah Vardy vs Coleen Rooney libel trial comes to a close (Picture: PA/GC/Reuters)

Today marks the final day in the case of Rebekah Vardy vs Coleen Rooney, or, as it’s become known as………..the Wagatha Christie libel trial.

The legal battle between footballers’ wives has played out over six days at the High Court in London, but today it will draw to a close as lawyers for each of the women set out each of their cases.

What a ride it’s been.

Vardy – who is married to Leicester footballer Jamie Vardy – is suing Rooney for libel after Rooney accused her of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life in October 2019 following a months-long ‘sting operation’ which saw Rooney dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’.

Vardy denies the allegations and has sued the fellow footballer’s wife over the ‘untrue and unjustified defamatory attack’.

For those tuning in just as the two wags reach the finish line, or should you want a little refresher before final comments are made, here are the key moments from each day so far.

Day One

– The much-anticipated trial of the Wagatha Christie libel claim begins. Mrs Vardy arrives at the High Court in London with a security guard, while Rooney attends with husband Wayne Rooney – and her foot brace.

– The legal teams representing each of the women set out their cases for Mrs Justice Steyn, the judge hearing the case. Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Mrs Vardy, tells the court she ‘had no choice’ but to bring the libel claim against Mrs Rooney to ‘establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation’, while David Sherborne, representing Mrs Rooney, tells the judge the case is essentially a ‘detective story’ and ‘like any good detective story, you never find a person standing over the body with a smoking gun’.

– Mrs Vardy takes her place in the witness box shortly before 4pm and tells the court she ‘didn’t leak anything to anyone’. In her witness statement, she says she will ‘never forgive’ Mrs Rooney after she ‘ruined’ the last weeks of her pregnancy by accusing her of leaking private information to the press. She also describes the online abuse she suffered following Mrs Rooney’s ‘reveal’ post on Instagram, and says the impact of the allegation on her and her family has been ‘traumatic’.

– The first day of the trial ends with Mr Sherborne dramatically revealing a News Of The World article in which Mrs Vardy talked about a claimed sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre. The barrister reads the headline to the court, saying: ‘Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes’. Mrs Vardy responds by saying she was ‘forced into a situation’ by her ex-husband.

Vardy arrives for day one (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)

Outside the case, Mr Andre would later go on to address the article, voicing his upset the comments about his body were repeatedly brought up after 15 years.

Day Two

– As Mrs Vardy’s cross examination continues into the second day of the trial, she denies a suggestion that it was ‘standard practice’ for her to leak information to The Sun via her agent, Caroline Watt – who withdrew from the case at an earlier stage on mental health grounds. However, she accepts that some exchanges of messages between her and Ms Watt were ‘not good’.

– Mrs Vardy accepts directing Ms Watt to an Instagram post by Mrs Rooney where she talked about having crashed her Honda car, but says she had no knowledge of the agent ‘monitoring’ Mrs Rooney’s account.

Mrs Rooney arrived in good spirits for day two (Picture: Neil Mockford/GC Images)

Mrs Vardy wore a serious all-black number (Picture: Reuters)

– The model and television personality brands a suggestion she deliberately moved seats at one of the matches during the Euro 2016 tournament to sit behind Mrs Rooney in order to attract more publicity as ‘ridiculous’.

– Mr Sherborne holds up a photograph used in an exclusive 2016 interview Mrs Vardy gave The Sun, saying: ‘You think you might recall these rather large images of you naked in a national newspaper.’ Mrs Vardy replies that they were her own pictures and weren’t taken for the purposes of the article.

– Mrs Vardy begins to cry as she was asked about some of the abuse her and her family had received, and she also denies having close relationships with any journalists.

Day Three

– Mrs Vardy denies orchestrating a paparazzi photographer to get a picture of the wives and girlfriends of the England players outside a St Petersburg restaurant during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

– The court hears further messages between Mrs Vardy and Ms Watt in which they discussed a story about Mrs Rooney’s car being involved in a crash and Sun journalist Andy Halls, whose phone number Mrs Vardy previously denied having but later realised she had messaged him via Instagram.

– The 40-year-old again breaks down in tears after her barrister complained to the judge about the manner of Mr Sherborne’s questioning, and leaves the witness box after the judge grants a short break. A further break is needed a short while later after Mrs Vardy again starts crying under cross-examination and puts her head in her hands on the desk in front of her.

Mrs Vardy became emotional during moments during her evidence (Picture: PA)

– Mrs Vardy is asked about a message Ms Watt sent to her following a ‘warning’ post Mrs Rooney published in which she said someone she trusted was betraying her by leaking stories. In the message, Ms Watt said: ‘And it wasn’t someone she trusted, it was me.’

Asked why she didn’t challenge her agent, Mrs Vardy replies that she was bathing her children and watching Dancing On Ice so later continued gossiping with Ms Watt about Gemma Collins faceplanting on the ice.

– In what may go down in Wagatha history, Mrs Vardy gave the courtroom a laugh when she asked who Davy Jones was.

As proceedings got underway earlier today, the court was reminded that Mrs Vardy’s agent Caroline Watt said during an earlier preliminary hearing that her phone had fallen into the North Sea.

Mr Sherborne, barrister for Mrs Rooney, remarked: ‘We know that Miss Watt’s phone is now in Davy Jones’ Locker, don’t we, Mrs Vardy?’

Mrs Vardy appeared confused and replied: ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know who Davy Jones is.’

The courtroom burst into laughter as the judge explained to Mrs Vardy that it was an idiom referring to the resting place of sailors who drowned at the bottom of the sea.

Youngsters today may be more familiar with the term from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which features a character named Davy Jones who is a tyrannical captain and dark lord of the Seven Seas.

Day Four

– We’re passed the half-way mark and Mrs Vardy appears emotional several times on her final day appearing in the witness box, during which she is accused of throwing Ms Watt ‘under the bus’.

– The former model tells the court the News Of The World article about her sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre is one of her ‘biggest regrets’.

– Mrs Vardy concludes her evidence by claiming she felt ‘bullied and manipulated’ while facing cross-examination.

– As Mrs Rooney enters the witness box, she tells the judge her viral so-called ‘reveal’ post was sent as a ‘last resort’ after she previously sent out warnings.

– The court hears Mrs Rooney was ‘surprised’ by the interest her post triggered, with her adding: ‘It’s not in my nature to cause abuse or trolling in any way at all.’

– Mrs Rooney tells the court she was in a ‘vulnerable situation’ following her husband’s arrest for drink-driving in September 2017.

– She says in written evidence she was ‘really hurt’ by the leak of information from a later private Instagram post featuring Mr Rooney that she did not want to make public amid difficulties in their marriage.

‘I was in a vulnerable situation,’ Mrs Vardy told the court.

‘I didn’t know how my marriage was going to work out, whether I was going on with my relationship.’

– The mother-of-four adds in her written statement that she is glad she ‘put an end’ to Mrs Vardy allegedly leaking other people’s information after her bid to catch the person ‘betraying’ her ‘red-handed’.

Day Five

– Returning to the witness box, Mrs Rooney tells the High Court she wanted ‘totally untrue’ story about a so-called gender selection procedure to be published as ‘evidence’ for her sting operation to discover the source of leaked stories.

– Mrs Rooney claims she suspected Mrs Vardy was the source of a story about herself and her husband securing a babysitter, with the court hearing she alleged to a PR that Mrs Vardy was ‘fame hungry’.

Mrs Vardy was seen sitting behind Mrs Rooney during Euro 2016 (Picture: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

– Messages between Mrs Vardy and her agent about Mrs Rooney were ‘evil and uncalled for’, the former England captain’s wife tells the court.

– Former Football Association family liaison officer Harpreet Robertson provides evidence over two guests of Mrs Vardy allegedly being ‘rude and abusive’ to her during a Euro 2016 match.

– Mrs Robertson claims Mrs Vardy’s evidence about why she sat behind Mrs Rooney at the England versus Wales game – that Mrs Rooney and family were in her seats and she took the nearest available to avoid a ‘fuss’ – was ‘simply untrue’.

Mr Rooney accompanied his wife to the trail each day (Picture: Neil Mockford/GC Images)

– Mrs Vardy leaves her own libel trial early……..for an appointment.

Day Six

– Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy attends the trial alongside his wife for the first time and hears evidence from Mr Rooney over an alleged ‘awkward’ conversation with him about Mrs Vardy at the Euro 2016 tournament.

– Mr Rooney claims in court he was asked by then England manager Roy Hodgson to speak to Mr Vardy about getting his wife to ‘calm down’, adding in written evidence that the FA considered her media activities were causing ‘problems and distractions’.

Jamie Vardy accompanied his wife on day six of the trial (Picture: PA)

– The court hears that impact of the period following his wife’s ‘reveal’ post had been ‘traumatic’ for her and that Mr Rooney had watch her become ‘a different mother’ and ‘a different wife’.

– In a statement issued by Mr Vardy’s representatives outside the hearing, he said: ‘Wayne is talking nonsense.

‘He must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky’s media work at Euro 2016.

More: Wayne Rooney

‘There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky.’

– Experts are also called to give evidence over issues relating to the data from Mrs Vardy’s and Mrs Rooney’s phones, with Matthew Blackband claiming he believed there was a ‘high probability’ that ‘manual deletion’ explained the loss of messages from Mrs Vardy’s device.

MORE : Wagatha Christie trial: Sketch artist addresses trolling after Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy picture has people in hysterics

MORE : Julian Clary wants to star as Rebekah Vardy in the inevitable Wagatha Christie TV drama and we’re very here for it

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