Rebekah Vardy has taken the first win in the high profile legal battle between herself and Coleen Rooney.
Vardy, who is married to Leicester City ace Jamie Vardy, is suing Rooney for libel after Wayne’s missus shared a long Instagram post about how Vardy’s Instagram account was leaking planted stories about her.
In the first ruling 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 pointed the finger at mum-of-five Becky personally – despite being signed off “It was… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Coleen, 34, had claimed her post showed “reasonable grounds” she had to suspect Becky’s camp – which included to members of her team – used the Instagram account to leak stories to the press.
Mr Justice Warby said in his judgement: “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. “
Mr Justice Warby sided with Rebekah Vardy in the first stage of her clash with Coleen Rooney (Image: PA)
Referring to Vardy’s legal team headed up by Hugh Tomlinson QC, he adds: “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.”
Coleen will now have to prove in court that Becky 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.
Coleen Rooney claimed Rebekah Vardy’s account leaked stories about her to the press (Image: SplashNews.com)
Last year Coleen stunned the nation when she revealed she had gone into detective mode to work out how stories about her were appearing in the press.
In a detailed post, she explained how she planted a series of fake stories on a private Instagram account to see if they ended up in the media.
Over time she then cut down the pool of people to leave just one account access to see the posts… Rebekah Vardy’s.
After a final tale was leaked to the media she claims was only visible by Vardy’s account she went public with her allegations.
Vardy has always denied her involvement.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
