Coleen Rooney ‘revelled’ in being ‘Wagatha Christie’ as Rebekah Vardy blasts her over ‘flawed’ investigation

COLEEN Rooney “revelled” in being known as “Wagatha Christie”, London’s High Court has heard as an explosive libel case gets under way today.

Rebekah Vardy’s lawyer has blasted the WAG’s “flawed” investigation after Coleen accused the mum-of-five of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the media.

The Mega AgencyColeen Rooney arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice with her husband Wayne to face Rebekah Vardy this morning as the Wagatha Christie case gets under way[/caption]

Rebekah is suing Coleen for libel after she was accused of leaking fake stories about the RooneysGetty

Coleen has been forced to wear a plastic air boot after breaking a bone in her foot in a fall at homeGetty

Derby County manager Wayne was surrounded by cameras as he walked into the building with his hands in his pocketsReuters

And it’s been heard this morning that Rebekah, who was seven months pregnant when she was accused, had suffered vile abuse from trolls who said her baby should be “put in an incinerator”.

The court case comes after Wayne’s wife claimed to have carried out a months-long “sting operation” before publicly pointing the finger at Rebekah in a bombshell social media post.

Coleen alleges that three fake stories were shared, including that she travelled to Mexico for a “gender selection” procedure.

She blasted: “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, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is now suing for libel.

Under English defamation law, the burden of proof now will be on Coleen to prove that her post was “substantially true”.

Hugh Tomlinson, representing Rebekah, told the court this morning she had brought the libel action against Coleen to “vindicate her reputation”.

He described Coleen’s claim as “false” and said that, as a result of the allegation, Rebekah had been subjected to online abuse by vile social media users who labelled her a “rat-faced b***h”.

“Mrs Vardy needs to clear her name in order to ever be given a chance to move on from this horrendous episode,” he said.

“Mrs Rooney accepts that her post is defamatory of Mrs Vardy. Remarkably, she continues to deny that the post caused ‘serious harm’ to Mrs Vardy’s reputation. 

“But there can be no serious doubt about this: it is obvious that the post caused such harm.

“It is also obvious that Mrs Vardy has suffered, and continues to suffer, enormous distress and upset as a result of its publication.”

He said Rebekah “does not know who was providing information from Mrs Rooney’s private Instagram posts”, and claimed she “had no choice” but to sue after repeatedly trying to settle with Coleen.

“All she knows is that it was not her,” he said.

Mr Tomlinson also claimed Coleen had “revelled” in her “Wagatha Christie” nickname, sharing posts which mocked her up as the renowned crime writer Agatha Christie.

The evidence against Rebekah is “flawed”, he claimed.

‘WAGATHA CHRISTIE’

The case first went to court in November 2020, with a judge finding that Coleen’s post “clearly identified” mum-of-five Rebekah as being “guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust”.

The judge 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 Rebekah and agent Caroline Watt emerged.

In one, Rebekah called Coleen a “nasty b***h” and a “c***”, it’s alleged.

But in February, Coleen’s barrister David Sherborne told the High Court that a “series of unfortunate events” have happened over the evidence in the case – including Ms Watt’s phone falling into the North Sea.

Rebekah’s lawyers have said she has “nothing to hide”.

COURT SHOWDOWN

Most recently, the High Court was told by Mr Sherborne that Rebekah “appears to accept” that Ms Watt was the source of leaked stories about Coleen.

Ms Watt had been due to give evidence in the trial, but was recently found to be “not fit” to take part, also withdrawing her written evidence.

Mr Tomlinson said: “We simply don’t know what the true position is in relation to Ms Watt… She’s not communicating with anybody.”

Wayne Rooney will be quizzed, it’s understood.

Meanwhile, just last week, it emerged that the Rooneys fear their reputations will be “shredded” as a result of the trial.

They allegedly fear being grilled over their relationship with the media amid reports some stories about Wayne were “hushed up”.

There could also be stories about the Derby County manager Coleen doesn’t know about, it is claimed.

One pal called the situation “a slow-motion train crash”.

The trial in front of Mrs Justice Steyn is expected to last seven days.

SplashRebekah allegedly referred to Coleen as a ‘c***’ in texts to agent Caroline Watt[/caption]