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28th Jul 2022

Verdict of ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel trial to be announced… tomorrow

Jack Peat

Coleen Rooney is ‘confident she’s won’, according to recent reports 

A High Court judge is preparing to hand down her ruling on the ‘Wagathan Christie’ libel case – with a decision expected tomorrow.

Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney have been embroiled in a high-profile legal battle over a viral social media post that was sent out in October 2019.

In it, Rooney, 36, said she had carried out a “sting operation” and accused Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.

The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney publicly claimed Vardy’s account was the source behind three fake stories she had posted on her private Instagram account.

Vardy, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, denied leaking the stories and sued her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Mrs Rooney defended the claim on the basis her post was “substantially true”.

After a highly-publicised libel trial in May, judge Mrs Justice Steyn is now due to publish her ruling on Friday.

Coleen has reportedly told friends she is “confident” of winning the High Court libel battle.

After the trial concluded in May, a source close to Wayne Rooney‘s wife told the Sunday Mirror: “After the trial, Coleen had a cup of tea and packed her bags for holiday, confident she had won.

“She has told friends she will be vindicated and she feels relieved that her truth is out there. This whole saga has been very painful.

“She isn’t counting her chickens as she knows the ultimate decision lies with the judge – but she’s adamant she has told the truth throughout and that justice will prevail.”

But Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Mrs Vardy, said Rooney had “failed to produce any evidence” during the trial and that Vardy had “regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower” of her private Instagram account by passing on information from it to The Sun.

Tomlinson said the libel battle was a “very simple case” when “one clears away the conspiracy theories”.

He added: “Mrs Vardy’s case is and always has been that she did not leak the information nor did she authorise anyone else to leak.

“She does not know to this day what happened,” Mr Tomlinson said, adding: “She does not know where this information came from.”

The barrister added that Vardy suffered “very serious harm to her reputation” as a result of Rooney’s post.

The judgment is due to be handed down by Mrs Justice Steyn at 12pm on Friday.

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