Rebekah Vardy

A High Court judge rules that "significant parts" of Rebekah Vardy's evidence are "not credible".

Mrs Justice Steyn said she accepted "the reveal post was on a matter of public interest... But she added: "The evidence... But she added: "It was not reasonable to believe that it was in the public interest to publish the reveal post, without taking any steps to put the allegation to Mrs Vardy and give her an opportunity to respond." "It is not the result that I had expected, nor believe was just. Firstly, Mrs Vardy's legal bill will be enormous. Mrs Justice Steyn concluded that Mrs Vardy had"a degree of self-deception" about her role in disclosing information to The Sun. "Although significant parts of Mrs Vardy's evidence were not credible, my assessment is that she is genuinely offended by the accusation made against her by Mrs Rooney in the reveal post." "In my judgement, it is likely that Ms Vardy deliberately deleted her WhatsApp chat with Ms Watt, and that Ms Watt deliberately dropped her phone in the sea," she said. But the judge said the likelihood that the loss of the phone was accidental was "slim". The judge said of Mrs Vardy that "significant parts of her evidence were not credible", while she added: "In my judgement, Ms Rooney was an honest and reliable witness." Mrs Justice Steyn said it was "likely" that Mrs Vardy's agent at the time, Caroline Watt, "undertook the direct act" of passing information to The Sun. Mrs Rooney said she was "pleased" the ruling had gone in her favour, adding "it was not a case I ever sought or wanted".

Rebekah Vardy, wife of Premier League footballer Jamie, loses the case she brought against Coleen Rooney after a rollercoaster public trial.

Ms Vardy said her family had received abuse and threats as a result of Ms Rooney's public accusation and Justice Steyn agreed it was not in the public interest for the disclosure to have been made by Ms Rooney without giving Ms Vardy the chance to respond first. "Nothing of which Ms Vardy has been accused, nor any of the findings in this judgment, provide any justification or excuse for subjecting her or her family, or any other person involved in this case, to such vitriol." The judge found Ms Rooney to be honest, but said some of Ms Vardy's testimony was not credible and there had been "a degree of self-deception on her part regarding the extent to which she was involved". "It is likely that Ms Vardy deliberately deleted her WhatsApp chat with Ms Watt, and that Ms Watt deliberately dropped her phone in the sea," Justice Steyn said. Ms Vardy said she was "devastated" by the ruling, saying "this is something I cannot accept." In a case that has gripped the public with its mix of glamour, sport and amateur sleuthing, the judge backed Ms Rooney's public assertion that Ms Vardy had spilled private details about her to The Sun tabloid.

An English court has ruled in favour of Coleen Rooney in the so-called Wagatha Christie showdown.

It came after Rooney had staged an elaborate sting operation to find out who was passing on stories about her private life to The Sun tabloid. She turned detective to find out who the culprit was. Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world.

Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Leicester striker Jamie, has lost her libel battle against Coleen Rooney as a trial that has become known as the 'Wagatha ...

“There were many occasions when her evidence was manifestly inconsistent with the contemporaneous documentary evidence, eg. Addressing Vardy’s evidence, Mars Justice Steyn said: “It was evident that Mrs Vardy found the process of giving evidence stressful and, at times, distressing. Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Leicester striker Jamie, has lost her libel battle against Coleen Rooney as a trial that has become known as the ‘Wagatha Christie’ case comes to a close.

Judge Karen Steyn on Friday cleared Coleen Rooney of libeling Rebekah Vardy by claiming that Vardy had leaked her private social media posts to the tabloid ...

Watt’s phone, which was sought by Rooney’s lawyers as evidence, was reported to have fallen into the North Sea. The case, heard at the High Court in May, was a media sensation. In an October 2019 social media post to almost 2 million followers, she revealed: “It’s ................ Rebekah Vardy’s account.” Both women testified during the trial, with Vardy several times breaking down in tears. The stories — including one about a fictitious basement flood at the Rooneys' house and another reporting Coleen Rooney was trying to revive her TV career — duly appeared in The Sun. The case has reportedly cost each side more than 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) in legal fees. Then there was the amateur detective work that led to Rooney’s accusation. Vardy’s lawyers said Watt’s health was too fragile for her to take the stand. “Nothing of which Mrs. Vardy has been accused, nor any of the findings in this judgment, provide any justification or excuse for subjecting her or her family, or any other person involved in this case, to such vitriol,” Steyn said. The judge was scathing about Vardy’s credibility as a witness, saying some of her evidence was “manifestly inconsistent with the contemporaneous documentary evidence, evasive or implausible.” Rooney, in contrast, was “honest and reliable,” the judge said. In a devastating blow to Vardy, who launched the libel suit to defend her reputation, the judge said Rooney's allegation was “substantially true.” Steyn said it was likely that Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had passed Rooney's private information to The Sun newspaper, and that ”Mrs. Vardy knew of and condoned this behavior." V ardy, who sued after Rooney accused her in 2019 of sharing private Instagram content with The Sun, said she was “extremely sad and disappointed at the decision.”

Rebekah Vardy has lost her "Wagatha Christie" libel trial against Coleen Rooney over a viral social media post.

Rooney said she posted a series of fake stories about herself on Instagram with a view to finding out who had been leaking information about her, blocking everyone apart from one person on her account from seeing the posts. Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, took Rooney, the wife of England's record goal scorer Wayne Rooney, to court after she was accused of supplying the media with private information about Coleen Rooney. It came after Rooney had staged an elaborate sting operation to find out who was passing on stories about her private life. Rebekah Vardy has lost her "Wagatha Christie" libel trial against Coleen Rooney over a viral social media post.

Rebekah Vardy probably isn't buzzing at the ruling, a character assassination that has left her well and truly stung by libel.

She didn’t even blink at references to her husband’s repeated infidelities, didn’t stumble under questioning, but conducted herself like someone who truly has the courage of her convictions, and her convictions are that you don’t cross Coleen or her family. Rooney took a big risk in publicly accusing Vardy – or, to be precise “It’s………Rebekah Vardy’s account” – of leaking stories about her to the tabloids, because in English law the burden of proof falls on the person who made the defamatory claim. Vardy, by contrast, was more like a character on Dynasty, hysterically crying and collapsing in the witness box as Rooney’s barrister, David Sherborne, repeatedly read out her own words, from Vardy traded private details of her husband’s colleagues and their wives in the hope of currying positive coverage in the media. And like Streisand – who sued a website for featuring an image of her house, thereby drawing the world’s attention to it – she believed going to court was the best way to control her image. Like Wilde – who sued the Marquess of Queensberry for revealing his homosexuality – Vardy went to court to deny something that a rock could see was true: she’d passed on private stories about Rooney to the press.

It was Depp vs Heard and Best Of Breed at Crufts rolled into one: yes, the Wagatha Christie gravy-train came to a screeching halt yesterday having taken ...

She is a woman who likes to present herself as Strong & Independent – but she’d better get used to living off a man as she won’t even be making chump-change in future now that she has been branded a liar in the courts, and the poor fool knows this; in a witness statement, on the ‘impact’ on her of the trial she whimpered that the case has ‘impacted on my work… Vardy now has something in common with Oscar Wilde, at least – both were ruined because they complained about people saying things that were true, and no amount of waterworks over being trolled can outrun the truth. In a way, this case was about the modern tyranny of hurt feelings – Vardy – against the fact that there is an objective truth which cannot be magicked away if someone bangs on about their emotions enough.

Rebekah Vardy has returned to social media with a defiant post after losing her libel trial with former friend Coleen Rooney.

With her back to the camera and flashing a peace sign – which looks like two fingers from behind – Vardy wears a leather jacket with the slogan, ‘Normal is boring’ splattered across it. The wife of Jamie Vardy was left feeling ‘extremely sad and disappointed’ after the judge ruled in her former friend’s favour, meaning she could be forking out up to £2million. Rebekah Vardy is back on social media for the first time after losing her libel trial to Coleen Rooney.