Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy will battle out their Wagatha Christie row in front of the world after failing to reach an agreement.
The warring stars will now prepare for an almighty showdown at London’s High Court , a preliminary hearing heard today.
It is expected that the trail will last seven days.
Sara Mansoori is representing Ms Vardy said in court: “The matter has not been resolved.
“Unfortunately we are here today.”
Legal costs in the case have now almost reached £1 million – £402,312 for Vardy and £465,842 for Rooney.
Court paperwork filed by Vardy stated that “the parties attended a mediation however this did not result in the settlement of the dispute”.
Master Eastman of London’s High Court has now ordered Ms Vardy to file her application to strike out Ms Rooney’s defence by the end of the the month.
He has also ordered them both to file revised budgets by June 18.
He said unless the parties resolve the case it will go to trial `before Easter next year’.
The legal filing states that Vardy is braced to use Instagram boffins to argue her case.
Her paperwork states: “She seeks permission to instruct an expert in the use of Instagram and how it operates, with consideration to be given to the following specific issues, all of which are reasonably required to resolve the issues that will arise at trial.”
Coleen and Rebekah have failed to reach an out of court settlement (Image: SplashNews.com)
Rebekah, who launched her legal action for libel in June 2020, claims she “suffered extreme distress, hurt, anxiety and embarrassment as a result of Coleen’s publication of her post and the events which followed”.
Coleen said she planted three fake tales about her travelling to Mexico to `see what this gender selection is all about’, returning to TV and the basement flooding in her new house.
She then wrote on Instagram and Twitter that `someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account’ had been leaking `private posts and stories’.
“I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account,” she added.
Her lawyers said the abuse she received made her “feel suicidal”, adding: “She suffered from severe panic attacks and anxiety which manifested in being scared to leave her house.”
In January it was reported that Rebekah was offered a peace deal by Coleen to keep the matter out of the courts.
It’s said Wayne’s wife is horrified by the spiralling legal costs associated with the case which are set to be into the millions.
Rebekah Vardy insists she was not behind the leaks to the press about Coleen (Image: PA)
The peace deal on the table said to have seen both parties make large scale donations to charity.
A source alleged to The Sun on Sunday at the time “Coleen has tried to settle this on three previous occasions.
“She’s acutely aware of the ridiculous spectacle this has become at a time when people are dying from Covid.
“As far as she is concerned this has gone too far.”
Last year, Rebekah hinted that a “resolution” could be reached.
Chatting with Hello!, she said: “The new year could potentially see a resolution between us. I’m pretty sure the public are sick of reading about it.”
In round one of the drawn out legal battle which took place in November, Mr Justice Warby sided with Vardy’s legal team that Coleen’s now infamous social media post did directly pointed the finger at mum-of-five Becky personally – despite being signed off “It was… Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Coleen Rooney planted a string of fake stories to try and catch out the leaker (Image: Getty Images)
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.
Rebekah Vardy has always protested her innocence (Image: Instagram)
“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 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.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
