Rebekah Vardy was involved in leaking eight stories to the press about Coleen Rooney, a judge has ruled today.
The result of her libel trial, which took place in May, was announced in a 76-page judgment published online and ended with the conclusion that Rebekah had lost her case.
The 40-year-old, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, was suing Rooney, the wife of England star Wayne, for defamation in a hearing dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’ by fans.
READ MORE: Danielle Lloyd calls Wagatha Christie case a ‘pantomime’ as Rebekah Vardy loses
Rooney, 36, uploaded several fake stories to her private Instagram account in a six-month sting to find out who was sharing private information to The Sun newspaper.
(Image: Getty Images)
She then publicly accused the fellow WAG in the now-infamous Wagatha Christie tweet in October 2019 which ended: “It’s…… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
In the judgment, Mrs Justice Steyn said a total of eight stories about the Rooneys published by The Sun were leaked by Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt.
She said: “I have found that Ms Vardy was party to the disclosure to The Sun of the Marriage, Birthday, Halloween, Pyjamas, Car Crash, Gender Selection, Babysitting and Flooded Basement Posts.”
The marriage article
(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The judge ruled Rebekah was involved in the leaking of a story about the Rooney’s marriage in September 2017.
Coleen had uploaded two photos of her sons on her Instagram account and wrote: “No matter where I am they always follow me, and I hope that lasts forever.”
These pictures and the caption were mentioned in the article suggesting Coleen would take the children if she split with Wayne, the court heard.
The judge said it was “probable” Caroline Watt leaked the story to The Sun.
The pyjamas article
(Image: GETTY)
The judge ruled Rebekah knew or condoned Caroline leaking a story about Coleen after she posted an image of Wayne at home in his pyjamas with the couple’s children after an affair scandal in November 2017.
When Coleen posted on her Instagram about the story being leaked, Rebekah messaged her saying: “That is so bad! And the sun of all people as well! Have you been through all your followers? No one with any celeb mag links? What about being hacked? I would be chomping if that was me! Not on at all x”.
The judge said: “It is evident that Ms Vardy did not consider that it was “so bad!” to tell the press about posts such as the Pyjamas Post, which she probably considered to be harmless.”
The car crash article
(Image: PA)
The judge ruled Rebekah was involved in the leaking of a story about Coleen crashing her car in Washington in January 2019.
Caroline told Rebekah The Sun journalist Andy Halls was trying to do a story on the crash and later sends a picture to ask if it is the picture Coleen posted, to which Rebekah replied: “Yeah that’s it! Different pic though x”.
Vardy told the libel trial: “Mr Halls as far as I know already had the information, he already had the picture. I confirmed she had definitely crashed it.”
The judge said it was “clear” both Rebekah and Caroline had seen the post and their messages showed the “frequency” they checked Coleen’s Instagram page.
She said: “It is evident that Ms Watt had given the information to Mr Halls, as she had suggested she would, and two days later she was trying to help him in his efforts to pull together enough material to draft an article.
“It is highly likely that Ms Watt passed on to Mr Halls Ms Vardy’s confirmation that Ms Rooney crashed her car.”
The gender selection article
The judge ruled Rebekah was also involved in leaking a fake story about Coleen looking into gender selection in August 2019.
After a fake story was posted by Coleen about looking into the procedure, Rebekah messaged Caroline: “Coleen’s Instagram. Wonder if they are going for baby 5 x”
The judge rejected Rebekah’s evidence that if Caroline had leaked the story it was without her knowledge.
She said: “First, I have found that Ms Vardy’s evidence regarding the Gender Selection Post is not credible. Secondly, I have found that Ms Vardy and Ms Watt have deliberately deleted or destroyed evidence.
“Thirdly, the pattern of working together to give the press information is evident.
“The evidence is wholly inconsistent with the thesis that Ms Watt was acting alone, without Ms Vardy’s knowledge, consent or approval.”
The birthday article
(Image: EPA)
The judge ruled Rebekah was involved in an article about Coleen making Wayne return to England to have a baby girl after his affair in August 2019.
Ms Rooney had uploaded a photograph of Mr Rooney with one of their sons, with the message “Thank you so much for all the lovely messages….buzzing [hands raised emoji]…… it was a difficult year but an experience and it made me look at life in different ways”.
The judge said: “I have given, and bearing in mind the professional relationship that both Ms Watt and Ms Vardy had with Mr Boyle, I infer that the Difficult Year Post was disclosed by Ms Vardy, using Ms Watt as the conduit.”
The flooded basement articles
(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Rebekah was found to be involved in leaking a fake story about a flood in the Rooney’s basement in October 2019.
The judge said: “Given that the story that the basement had flooded was untrue, and it was a story that no one other than those with access to Ms Vardy’s Instagram account would have been aware of, it is plain that the articles were based on the Flooded Basement Post.
“There is no realistic possibility that there could have been any source of this fabricated story other than Ms Watt and/or Ms Vardy.”
The babysitter article
(Image: Tim Stewart News Limited)
Rebekah was found to be involved in leaking a story about Coleen finding a babysitter in March 2019.
Coleen had posted a photograph of an Irish bar overlaid with the words, “We’re back [crying with laughter emoji] …took kids home…..we finally have a babysitter [raised hands and clinking champagne glasses emojis]”.
Although the judge said there was “no direct evidence” Rebekah was behind the leak, she found that she did disclose it to The Sun “on the balance of probabilities”.
Along with the above, the judge also ruled that the Halloween story was also leaked by Vardy or Watt.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
