Rebekah Vardy news – live: Coleen Rooney says marriage story hit at ‘vulnerable time’
Follow live on fourth day of trial
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Coleen Rooney has told the High Court she was in a “vulnerable position” when a story about her marriage to Wayne Rooney - that she believes was leaked from her private Instagram - hit the press.
She discussed a story in The Sun about the former England captain being allowed back into the family bed as she took the stand in her libel trial against fellow footballer’s wife Rebekah Vardy.
Ms Rooney also told the court her post naming-and-shaming Ms Vardy’s account as the suspected source of leaks to the press was her “last resort”.
The 36-year-old said she did not tell anyone about the ”sting” operation - which earned her the nickname “Wagatha Christie” when revealed to her followers - to try and work out who was behind the leaks.
Earlier in the morning, Ms Vardy revealed to the court she messaged Peter Andre and his wife about her now-infamous News of the World interview, in which she compared his private anatomy to a “chipolata”.
Ms Rooney is being sued by the wife of Premier League player Jamie Vardy for libel over the story leak accusations.
Rebekah Vardy commiserated with Rooney about Sun leak
Rebekah Vardy messaged Coleen Rooney to express her outrage that one of her Instagram followers was leaking stories to the Sun, the court heard.
Following a story in the Sun about Coleen, Wayne and her children taking pictures of themselves in bed, Ms Rooney posted angry messages to her followers saying that someone on the platform had started to leak stories to the press again.
Ms Vardy messaged Ms Rooney to express her anger that one of her Instagram followers would betray her in this way.
Ms Vardy said: “That’s so bad, the Sun of all people as well. Have you been through your followers? Anyone with any celeb mag links.”
Vardy continued: “I’d be chomping if it was me. Not on at all.”
Ms Rooney told Ms Vardy that she had “been through all” her followers and that she had “got a few people on it trying to sort” where the leak was coming from.
Vardy suggested: “You don’t think the paper has hacked your account do you?”
Court rises for lunch and Rooney’s lawyer winks at his legal team
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne has referenced the fact that Vardy’s agent Caroline Watt’s phone messages can’t be looked at because they “are lying at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones’s locker?”
Vardy responded, looking at Mrs Justice Steyn, saying: “Who’s Davy Jones?”
Justice Steyn had to tell Rebekah Vardy that it was just an expression and the questioning moved on.
Rebekah Vardy denies providing incorrect information to the Sun about Coleen Rooney’s reported car crash
Rebekah Vardy is being asked about whether she provided incorrect information to the Sun about whether Coleen Rooney crashed her car.
In texts read out to court, Vardy’s agent Caroline Watt messaged Ms Vardy saying: “Halls (a Sun reporter) is trying to do a story on Coleen crashing her car, but her PR won’t even reply.
“I’ve told him I’m 100 percent confident that it happened but don’t know how.”
Vardy replied: “Haha she defo did.”
Mr Sherborne said: “That’s the thing Mr Halls wanted to be sure about. Halls said: Did she crash the car? and you said she defo did.
“Plainly Ms Vardy, you were ultimately the source of this quote weren’t you.”
The quote Mr Sherborne is referring to is: “Coleen ended up having a bad smash when she was driving the family car.
“Luckily Coleen escaped without a scrape on her but the motor was a mess.
“One side of the car was completely caved in. She couldn’t drive it away and it looked like a total write off.
“Obviously she was shaken up at the time but Coleen was just thankful no one was hurt.”
This ultimately turned out to be incorrect, the court heard. Coleen Rooney said she didn’t crash the car, instead a car drove into her Honda.
Mr Sherborne also confronted Vardy with a message from her agent, in which the agent apparently admits being the source of the leak to the Sun.
“It wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me”, Caroline Watt wrote.
Vardy and Watt knew about the crash because Rooney posted about it on her Instagram account.
When asked about whether this message proved that Ms Watt was leaking to the Sun, Vardy said: “That seems to be what she is saying.”
Recap: 'I would much rather you were honest, because you are in a witness box’
Lawyer Mr Sherborne asked Ms Vardy about an exchange with her agent Ms Watt discussing an article about the wives and girlfriends of the England players at the 2018 tournament, which described them as having a “great time” and being in Russia to “back our boys”.
Ms Vardy said she “didn’t really want to do it” and did not want to spend her time there talking to journalists.
Mr Sherborne put it to Ms Vardy that the Football Association (FA) were “worried” about the wives and girlfriends “drawing too much attention”, to which she said she could not comment on the FA’s position. Referring to the article, she said: “If I’m honest, I can’t remember that at all.”
Mr Sherborne replied: “Well, I would much rather you were honest, because you are in a witness box under oath.” The barrister then said that, far from not wanting attention, Ms Vardy was “trying to create attention” and that is why she had “stage-managed the photograph of the girls”, which Ms Vardy denied.
Mr Sherborne then referred to the evidence of Harpreet Robinson, the FA’s family liaison for the England team during the tournament, who said she received complaints from players and their partners.
Ms Vardy replied: “That is news to me, (I didn’t know) until I read it in her statement.”
Vardy repeatedly revised her witness statements in lead up to trial, High Court told
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer Mr Sherborne told the court elements of Rebekah Vardy’s witness statement which related to the alleged staged photo with other wives and girlfriends in Russia in June 2018 had varied throughout the disclosure process.
Reading her original witness statement, he said: “‘The claimant had nothing to do with the photograph which was published in The Sun on June 26 2018. She did not arrange a photographer to be present and received no payment’. You didn’t arrange a photograph?
“Yes, that’s true”, she replied.
He continued: “So, you changed your case.”
Reading an amended statement from July 2021, he said: “You say this: ‘The claimant did not orchestrate the picture that was published in The Sun’.
“What’s gone from that is that you no longer say you had nothing to do with the photograph that was published.”
Ms Vardy then said Mr Sherborne was “confusing” her when asked if both statements were true, before later going on to say: “Sometimes you make mistakes.”
Mr Sherborne said: “The reason you have not got your story straight is because you were lying.”
“No, I wasn’t”, she responded.
Ms Vardy’s witness statements were repeatedly revised ahead of the libel trial, the High Court has heard.
Rebekah Vardy said that it’s embarrassing to be called the leader of the Wags
Rebekah Vardy has said that it is embarassing to be called “the leader of the Wags”. She was referring to an article in The Sun in July 2018, which was headlined: “Becky Vardy reveals the secret to England’s World Cup success is down to the lads getting to spend time with their WAGs.”
Later on in the article, it described Ms Vardy as “the unofficial leader of our WAGs.”
That part of the article was read out by lawyer David Sherborne and Ms Vardy responded: “That’s quite an embarrassing statement.”
The court heard that Ms Vardy had messaged Coleen Rooney about her family’s move to Washington DC.
In the message, Vardy said: “So when should we book another holiday?... Good luck with the move to DC.”
Ms Vardy was referring to an article in the tabloid press about Ms Rooney, to which Ms Rooney responded: “Haha oh my god i’ve had it for years. You can take over. They chat so much rubbish.”
Rooney’s lawyer Sherborne accuses Rebekah Vardy of lying
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne is continuing his questioning of Ms Vardy and exhibiting a particularly aggressive style.
He has repeatedly accused Ms Vardy of lying in the witness box and is returning to written statements she made to the court to try and show that Ms Vardy keeps changing her accounts of what happpened.
He also has accused Ms Vardy of wasting time. Earlier this morning he said: “We are only going to get through if if you answer my questions. I’m only going to give you one opportunity and if you don’t answer I’m going to move on.”
He repeated this, saying: “I’m going to give you one chance to answer other wise we will never get through this.”
His questions are peppered with statements like: “That’s a lie isn’t it?” and “Mrs Vardy please focus on what’s in front of you.”
In one exchange Mr Sherborne said: “The reason you can’t get your story straight is because you are lying.”
Vardy replied in a soft voice: “No I am not.”
Mr Sherborne accused Ms Vardy of “selective amnesia” and said she was “making this up, aren’t you Mrs Vardy?”.
In questioning about one message exchange between Caroline Watt and Ms Vardy, Mr Sherborne said: “Can you remember this exchange with Watt?”
Vardy replied: “If I’m honest I can’t remember.”
Mr Sherborne quipped: “I’d much rather you are honest because you are sitting in a witness box in a trial.”
Recap - Vardy quizzed about 2018 World Cup photo
Rebekah Vardy was asked a number of questions about the World Cup in Russia in 2018 under cross-examination by Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne as the third day of their libel battle got under way at the High Court in London.
Mr Sherborne referred to a message exchange between Ms Vardy and her PR and agent, Caroline Watt, at the time, in which Ms Watt said she had “got a photographer sorted for tomorrow” and Ms Vardy replied “OK”.
Ms Vardy said Ms Watt had arranged for a photographer to take pictures of her as she left her hotel, but denied giving the photographer the location of either the hotel or a restaurant she went to the same evening with a group of the England team’s wives and girlfriends.
She said she was “happy” to be photographed leaving the hotel but claimed that updates she sent to Ms Watt when plans changed throughout the evening were not because she was working with the agent to arrange a “pap shot” of the group as they left the restaurant.
Mr Sherborne suggested that a message to Ms Watt which said “I have bought about 10 minutes” referred to the fact Ms Vardy was delaying some of the women from posting a group photograph on social media because a photographer hiding in the bushes had taken a picture of them all and they “didn’t want to lose their exclusive”.
In response, Ms Vardy said: “Well, it reads like that, I don’t recall it like that and if I’m being honest ... I had been drinking.”
During a further exchange with Mr Sherborne, Ms Vardy again denied having orchestrated the photograph, adding: “If I had intentionally arranged the picture ... I would quite happily admit that I had.”
She said that, by replying as she did to Ms Watt, she was “just trying to get her off my back actually and enjoy my evening, it had been quite a crazy few days.”
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