Jamie Vardy to have phone searched as Rebekah and Coleen prepare for May 2022 trial

Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney will meet at a trial in their ongoing court case in May 2022, with the potential for it to last up to seven days.

The ongoing court case between Rebekah and Coleen continued on Wednesday with a remote hearing.

It’s part of Rebekah’s libel battle against Coleen over allegedly leaking stories to the media is set to be heard by the High Court.

During the remote hearing on Wednesday, Sara Mansoori represented Vardy, and said Rebekah is willing to have her “PC, handheld device and mobile phone” searched for all communications relating to the allegations that she leaked Rooney’s information.

Both Coleen and Rebekah’s parties want to call an expert on how Instagram works.

However, Vardy cannot compel her agent – a “third party” in the case – to hand over her devices.

Mr Sansom, representing Coleen Rooney, said Mrs Vardy was attempting to distance herself from her agent.

“A secrecy filter is being applied to documents,” he said.

Sansom said in order to achieve parity PCs, laptops, handheld devices and mobile phones of all those with access to Mrs Vardy’s account should be examined – including husband Jamie.

He also said Vardy has admitted that at the time the information was leaked she was not the only one with authorised access to her Instagram account – though Ms Mansoori said this was “not news”.

Her agent also had access along with Vardy’s footballer husband Jamie and his social media manager.

Mr Sansom said Vardy was “applying a double standard’ to her request for information.”

She wants access to not only Rooney’s PC, handheld devices and mobile phone but also analysis of conversations with her agents, representatives and friends.

At the same time Mr Sansom said Vardy claimed her own agent was a third party in the case and she therefore had no control over her devices.

The judge said: “Everybody who has got access to both accounts should be subject to the rules of disclosure.”

Vardy’s lawyers have stated neither she, her agent, her husband Jamie nor his social media agent were responsible for leaking any of Rooney’s private information.

The court heard the trial – which could last up to seven days – is set to take place in May (2022).

There will be a pre-trial hearing four weeks before the trial begins to discuss admissibility of evidence.

The judge has reduced the amount Vardy – should she win – can claim back from Rooney for conducting the pre-trial review from £26,000 to £20,000.

Each side could be liable for up to £600,000 costs of their opponent should they lose.

The total cost so far is more than £1.1m.

Mrs Rooney, 35, accused Mrs Vardy, 39, of leaking “false stories” about her private life in October 2019 after carrying out a months-long “sting operation” which saw her dubbed “Wagatha Christie”.

The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney publicly claimed her fellow footballer’s wife shared fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account with the newspaper.

Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for libel.

On Wednesday, a preliminary hearing will be held to deal with the timetable of the case and any disputes over the parties’ legal costs.

During a previous hearing in March, Mrs Rooney’s barrister John Samson asked the court to “reject the claimant’s cost budget and ask them to review it because, in the words of my lay client, it is grotesque”.

At the time, Mrs Vardy’s barrister Sara Mansoori said Mrs Vardy’s overall budget was “£897,000, the estimated costs of which are £465,842.

“This compares to Mrs Rooney’s estimated costs in her cost budget of £402,312.”

However, these estimated costs are likely to have changed after Mrs Vardy applied to have part of Mrs Rooney’s defence thrown out.

In a judgment in July, Mrs Justice Steyn threw out parts of Mrs Rooney’s defence but kept some aspects that Mrs Vardy had applied to strike out.

This included an allegation that Mrs Vardy was leaking details about the libel case itself to The Sun.

However, Mrs Justice Steyn said the alleged close relationship between Mrs Vardy and the newspaper was “one of the building blocks” of Mrs Rooney’s inferential case.

Mrs Vardy’s lawyers had argued that removing the parts of Mrs Rooney’s defence would save £200,000 in Mrs Vardy’s legal costs and reduce the length of the trial by three to four days.

However, Mrs Rooney’s lawyers previously said the request was a tactical move as parts of the defence would “undermine (Mrs Vardy’s) case as well as embarrass her”.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk