Coleen Rooney has hit back after Rebekah Vardy won the first round in the “Wagatha Christie” battle in court.
Rebekah, who is married to Leicester City ace Jamie Vardy, is suing Coleen for libel after Wayne’s wife shared a long Instagram post about how Vardy’s Instagram account was leaking planted stories about her.
In the first ruling of what could be a long, drawn-out process in the courts, Mr Justice Warby sided with Vardy’s legal team that the post did directly point the finger at mother-of-five Becky personally – despite being signed off “It was… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
In a statement after the ruling, a spokesman for Coleen said: “Today’s ruling on the technical legal meaning of the post changes nothing.
“Coleen’s defence to this misguided action was filed last month. It sets out clearly the facts of her case, which remain the same irrespective of any decision on the meaning.
Coleen Rooney has hit back after Rebekah Vardy won the first round in the “Wagatha Christie” battle in court (Image: Getty Images)
“The key issues of the case remain the three stories from Coleen’s private Instagram account published by The Sun and Rebekah’s relationship with the newspaper, including its ‘Secret Wag’ column.
“After three years of stress and anxiety about the leaks from her private social media account, Coleen is keen to see progress made on the real issues, beginning with what Rebekah has to tell the court.”
Coleen, 34, had claimed her post showed the “reasonable grounds” she had to suspect Becky’s camp – which included members of her team – used the Instagram account to leak stories to the press.
Rebekah won the first round of her High Court libel battle against Coleen Rooney after she was accused of leaking stories about Mrs Rooney’s private life to the media (Image: PA)
Mr Justice Warby said in his judgment: “I agree with the submissions for the claimant. The whole purpose of the post, on the face of it, is to identify publicly the someone, the person whom Ms Rooney has “clearly” identified as being guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust that she alleges.
“The ordinary reader would not regard the post as merely telling him or her who it is that Ms Rooney suspects, or as simply raising Ms Vardy’s guilt as no more than one possibility, among others.”
Referring to Vardy’s legal team headed up by Hugh Tomlinson QC, he added: “As Mr Tomlinson submits, the reader is told early on that Ms Rooney formed a suspicion; the rest of the post is telling the reader how she established the truth.
“And there is ‘no hint’ in the post that Ms Vardy’s account could be accessed or operated by anyone other than the named account holder.”
If Coleen and Rebekah fail to reach an out of court deal, a five-day legal battle will commence next year (Image: PA)
Coleen will now have to prove in court that Rebekah, 38, alone was the individual passing on planted stories to The Sun.
Speaking in court on Thursday, November 19, Hugh Tomlinson QC, acting on behalf of Vardy, confirmed the WAGs have agreed to meet one final time to try and stop the matter dragging out through the courts.
He told the court: “The parties have agreed that there should be one final attempt to resolve this.”
Coleen’s lawyer, David Sherborne responded: “She believes this matter should never have gone to court.
“She has been drawn into this litigation despite the fact she has offered on a number of occasions to mediate with the claimant, Mrs Vardy.
“The time and expense on this litigation at a time of life-changing events for everyone could be better spent. But she has no choice.”
If Coleen and Rebekah fail to reach an out of court deal, a five-day legal battle will commence in London’s High Court On February 2 next year.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
