Coleen Rooney ‘pleased’ to have won Wagatha Christie trial over Rebekah Vardy-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro

The results are in (Picture: Getty)

Coleen Rooney has spoken out after winning the Wagatha Christie trial over Rebekah Vardy, saying ‘it was not a case I ever sought or wanted’.

Today, it was confirmed that Vardy – wife of professional footballer Jamie Vardy – had lost her libel cast against Rooney – who’s married to retired England star Wayne Rooney.

The legal battle began after Rooney accused Vardy of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life to the press, with members of the public dubbing the former ‘Wagatha Christie’ after conducting a ‘sting operation’ on social media.

Following the verdict, Rooney, 36, released a statement celebrating the result, saying: ‘Naturally, I am pleased that the judge has found in my favour with her judgment today.

‘It was not a case I ever sought or wanted. I never believed it should have gone to court at such expense in times of hardship for so many people when the money could have been far better spent helping others.’

Rooney said that before and after she shared the social media posts in October 2019 accusing Vardy of leaking ‘false stories’ to the media, she ‘made every effort to avoid the need for such a drawn out and public court case’, efforts which she claimed were ‘knocked back’ by Vardy, 40.

Rooney claimed attempts to avoid a public court case were ‘knocked back’ by Vardy (Picture: Reuters/John Sibley)

‘This left me with no alternative but to go through with the case to defend myself and to end the repeated leaking of my private information to The Sun,’ she stated.

She continued: ‘These leaks from my private Instagram account began in 2017. They continued for almost two years, intruding on my privacy and that of my family. Although I bear Mrs Vardy no ill-will, today’s judgment makes clear that I was right in what I said in my posts of October 2019.

‘Finally, I would like to thank all of my legal team, my family, friends and everyone who supported me, including the public, through this difficult and stressful time.’

Rooney coined the infamous phrase ‘‘It’s ………. Rebekah Vardy’s account’ when she made a public statement accusing Vardy of leaking false stories to the press (Picture: EPA/Andy Rain)

In her ruling, Mrs Justice Steyn said that while it was ‘likely’ that Vardy’s former agent Caroline Watt ‘undertook the direct act’ of passing information to Teh Sun, ‘the evidence… clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney’s posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt’.

The judge added: ‘In my judgment, the conclusions that I have reached as to the extent to which the claimant engaged in disclosing to The Sun information to which she only had access as a permitted follower of an Instagram account which she knew, and Mrs Rooney repeatedly asserted, was private, suffice to show the single meaning is substantially true.’

Rooney wore a medical boot for the trial after reportedly fracturing a bone (Picture: PA/Ian West)

In October 2019, Rooney published a lengthy statement online announcing the account she alleged was responsible for making leaks about her to the press.

‘I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them,’ she wrote at the time.

‘It’s ………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.’

Vardy strongly denied the claims, suing Rooney for libel, with over seven days subsequently spent in court.

In her judgement, Justice Steyn said: ‘It was evident that Mrs Vardy found the process of giving evidence stressful and, at times, distressing.

‘I bear in mind when assessing her evidence the degree of stress she was naturally feeling, given the high-profile nature of the trial, the abuse that she has suffered since the reveal post was published, and the length of time she was in the witness box.’

The judge said about Vardy: ‘There were many occasions when her evidence was manifestly inconsistent’ (Picture: Reuters/Toby Melville)

However, the judge added: ‘Nevertheless, I find that it is, unfortunately, necessary to treat Mrs Vardy’s evidence with very considerable caution.

‘There were many occasions when her evidence was manifestly inconsistent with the contemporaneous documentary evidence, e.g. in relation to the World Cup 2018 and the photoshopped pictures, and others where she was evasive.’

The judge continued: ‘Mrs Vardy was generally unwilling to make factual concessions, however implausible her evidence.

‘This inevitably affects my overall view of her credibility, although I have borne in mind that untruthful evidence may be given to mask guilt or to fortify innocence.’

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