Coleen Rooney ordered to pay £65,000 after losing latest claim in Rebekah Vardy libel battle
The latest twist involves a third woman, as Reporter Chloe Keedy reports
Coleen Rooney has been ordered to pay £65,000 after being refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Rebekah Vardy’s agent as part of an ongoing legal battle - nicknamed 'Wagatha Christie' - between the footballers’ wives.
In an October 2019 Twitter post, Ms Rooney, 35, accused Ms Vardy, 39, of leaking stories about her private life after a months-long “sting operation”.
The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney, dubbed “Wagatha Christie”, claimed Ms Vardy had shared fake stories she posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.
Ms Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for libel.
What has the judge ruled?
Ms Rooney’s lawyers previously claimed that Ms Vardy had leaked information to The Sun either directly or through her agent Caroline Watt “acting on her instruction or with her knowing approval”.
Ms Rooney asked for permission to bring an “additional claim” against Ms Watt for misuse of private information and wanted it to be heard alongside the libel case.
In a remote hearing following Monday’s judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn ordered Mrs Rooney to pay £65,000 towards Mrs Watt’s legal costs following the unsuccessful bid to join her to the libel case.
The judge said: “It seems to me that is a reasonable and proportionate sum.”
She added: “It is fair to say that a considerable period of time would have been needed given the standing-start the respondent had for what is, for the respondent, quite a substantial application.”
At the end of the hearing, Rebekah Vardy’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC thanked the judge for “battling through Covid to produce a very comprehensive judgment”.
Her barrister David Sherborne told the court last week that if Ms Vardy wins her claim on the basis that she was not the person who leaked the information, then Ms Rooney will be left without “vindication” unless she is able to bring the claim against Ms Watt as part of the same case.
He also said that while Ms Rooney’s lawyers wanted further information from the WhatsApp messages between Ms Vardy and Ms Watt, the agent’s phone had fallen into the sea after a boat she was on hit a wave, shortly after the last hearing.
“(It was) most unfortunate, because it was only a short time after the court ordered that the phone should be specifically searched,” he said.
Ms Vardy’s lawyers opposed the application to add the claim against Ms Watt to the libel case.
In a ruling on Monday, following a two-day hearing last week, Ms Justice Steyn refused permission for the additional claim against Ms Watt and refused permission for it to be heard alongside the libel trial.
Why did Coleen Rooney want to bring a claim against Caroline Watt?
Last week, the High Court heard that WhatsApp messages between Ms Vardy and Ms Watt had been disclosed ahead of the trial.
On the day Ms Rooney accused her of leaking stories in a Twitter post in October 2019, which ended “It’s………. Rebekah Vardy’s account”, Ms Vardy sent a message to Ms Watt, stating: “That’s war.”
According to Ms Rooney’s written case, messages exchanged between Ms Vardy and Ms Watt in January 2019 showed the pair discussing a post on Ms Rooney’s private Instagram where her car had been damaged.
Ms Vardy told Ms Watt she “would love to leak those stories x”.
Mr Sherborne said Ms Watt was later responsible for the leak of the story to the newspaper, with Ms Vardy’s approval.
Days after the story about her car was published in The Sun, Ms Rooney posted a tweet saying it was “sad” someone who followed her was “betraying” her.
According to written submissions, while discussing the tweet in a private WhatsApp conversation, Ms Watt told Ms Vardy “It wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me”, in a message accompanied by a laughing emoji.
Ms Vardy's team said Ms Rooney “relies upon selective and incomplete WhatsApp exchanges… conveniently ignoring the messages which demonstrate beyond doubt that the claimant was not responsible for leaking the defendant’s private information to The Sun.”
In further WhatsApp messages between her and Ms Watt, Ms Vardy said she had supported Ms Rooney and suggested it was Ms Rooney’s own PR who had leaked stories.
What happens next?
Although the judge ruled against Ms Rooney, she did give her permission to amend her defence case, to include an allegation that Ms Vardy, through Ms Watt, provided information to The Sun about an unnamed professional footballer.
She also gave permission for disclosure of WhatsApp messages between Ms Vardy and Ms Watt during the relevant period, and allowed Ms Rooney’s application for an order that both parties make a joint request for information to Instagram.
She refused other disclosure applications made by both Ms Rooney and Ms Vardy.
The trial of the libel claim is due to take place in May, but may be delayed.