A Wagatha refresher: Everything that happened in Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney’s libel battle-Mel Evans-Entertainment – Metro

Wagatha Christie was the trial that stopped the nation – sort of (Picture: PA/Getty/Reuters)

Jumping online today and seeing a whole heap of chatter about Wagatha Christie this and Wagatha Christie that? Needing a little refresher on what went down between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney?

We’ve got you covered.

The high-profile libel battle between the footballers’ wives played out over a week at the High Court in London, with both attending and, at times, with their husbands, Jamie Vardy and Wayne Rooney, in tow.

With the judgment in the case now due from Mrs Justice Steyn at midday today, after weeks of deliberation, let’s take a look back at the key moments from the trial as well as the events that brought both women to the Royal Courts Of Justice.

September 2017 to October 2019

The Sun newspaper runs a number of articles about 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 9, 2019: It’s……… Rebekah Vardy’s account

Rooney shared a statement to her public-facing Instagram and Twitter, alleging that her fellow WAG Vardy had been selling fake stories to the press.

In 2019 Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy has been selling stories to the press (Picture: REX)

In a rather genius plot, Rooney revealed that she had been sharing fake stories to her own Instagram stories after suspecting that one of her followers was leaking tales from her private account to the press.

Saying of her suspicions someone had been selling the stories to the tabloids, Rooney went on, in what has now become pop culture canon: ‘I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s…… Rebekah Vardy’s account.’

Rebekah Vardy denies the allegations

Vardy immediately fired back with her own statement, denying she had leaked any stories.

Rebekah, seen here during the trial, vehemently denied the claims (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

February 13, 2020: Vardy is on TV

In a tearful appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, Vardy – who previously said she wanted a forensic investigation into the leaks – says the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she ‘ended up in hospital three times’.

Rooney says in a statement that she does not want to ‘engage in further public debate’.

June 23, 2020: Vardy has launched libel proceedings against Rooney

Vardy’s lawyers allege she ‘suffered extreme distress, hurt, anxiety and embarrassment as a result of the publication of the post and the events which followed’.

Vardy was in tears on Loose Women (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX)

November 19-20, 2020: The libel battle has its first High Court hearing in London

A judge rules that Rooney’s October 2019 post ‘clearly identified’ Vardy as being ‘guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust’.

Mr Justice Warby concludes that the ‘natural and ordinary’ meaning of the posts was that Vardy had ‘regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Mrs Rooney’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun of Mrs Rooney’s private posts and stories’.

February 8-9, 2022: A series of explosive messages between Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt are revealed at a preliminary court hearing

The court is told Vardy was not referring to Rooney when she called someone a ‘nasty bitch’ in one exchange with Watt.

Rooney’s lawyers seek further information from the WhatsApp messages, but the court is told that Watt’s phone fell into the North Sea after a boat she was on hit a wave, before further information could be extracted from it.

February 14, 2022: Rooney is refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Watt

Rooney wasn’t granted permission to bring a claim against Watt for misuse of private information to be heard alongside the libel battle.

The WAGs’ appearance at UEFA EURO 2016 was brought up in the trial (Picture: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)

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 13, 2022: Ms Watt is not fit to give oral evidence

The High Court is told Watt will not give evidence at the then-upcoming libel trial, as the case returns for another hearing.

The agent revokes permission for her witness statement to be used, and withdraws her waiver which would have allowed Sun journalists to say whether she was a source of the allegedly leaked stories.

April 29, 2022: Rebekah Vardy ‘appears to accept’ that her agent was the source of allegedly leaked stories

Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne tells the High Court, Vardy ‘appears to accept’ her agent Watt was the source of the allegedly leaked stories, and argues that a new witness statement submitted by Vardy suggests Watt was the source.

Rooney gave evidence during the trial (Picture: PA)

Vardy gave evidence metres away from Rooney (Picture: PA)

Vardy claims she ‘did not authorise or condone her’.

Vardy’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson says the statement did not contain ‘any change whatever in the pleaded case’, with her legal team having no communication with Ms Watt.

May 10-19, 2022: The trial begins

Vardy and Rooney come face to face in court as the trial of their libel battle takes place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London before Mrs Justice Steyn. Both women give evidence, as revelations from the case make daily headlines across the British press.

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.

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.

May 20, 2022: Screenshots from Coleen Rooney’s Instagram are released

Screenshots from Rooney’s Instagram were released to the court (Picture: PA)

An agreed 313-page bundle of evidence is released including pictures from Rooney’s Instagram account and screenshots where Vardy complained to her husband Jamie Vardy that she was being made a ‘scapegoat’ during Euro 2016.

July 29, 2022: Mrs Justice Steyn will give her judgment on the trial.

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