Coleen Rooney (left) accused Rebekah Vardy (right) of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids. Photos / Getty Images
Coleen Rooney (left) accused Rebekah Vardy (right) of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids. Photos / Getty Images
Tomorrow is D-Day for high-profile British WAGs Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
The women have been embroiled in a three-year saga gone global, sparked by a series of stories leaked to tabloids and Rooney's unexpected investigative prowess.
Dubbed the Wagatha Christie case, tomorrow the verdict will finally be given in what became a gripping, high-profile libel battle played out in the British High Court in May.
Forty-year-old Vardy, who brought the case against Rooney, 36, has always denied accusations made when WAG-turned-sleuth Rooney took matters into her own hands to find out who was leaking details about her private life to news outlets.
By a process of elimination and the curation of some fake stories, by the end of 2019, Rooney decided she was in no doubt that Vardy, the wife of English footballer Jamie Vardy, was her Judas.
Rebekah Vardy took fellow WAG Coleen Rooney to court over her accusations against the mother of five. Photos / Getty Images
In a now-famous post to Twitter, Rooney detailed how she blocked all her Instagram followers except Vardy, posted a series of made-up incidents and watched as they ended up in the press. The hashtag #WagathaChristie soon began trending across social media.
This has been a burden in my life for a few years now and finally I have got to the bottom of it...... pic.twitter.com/0YqJAoXuK1
The public dispute made headlines around the world as the two women, more accustomed to life among British sporting glitterati than the confines of a courtroom, went head to head. The case has revealed more scandalous accusations - including but not limited to - an affair with Peter Andre and a phone full of crucial information cast into the depths of the North Sea.
Coleen Rooney and her husband, Wayne Rooney, leaving the British High Court in May. Photo / Getty Images
According to the Guardian, tomorrow's verdict could result in one of three potential outcomes: a total victory for Vardy and the award of substantial damages. This would be on the basis that Rooney's evidence was not sufficient to justify her defamatory allegation.
Or, should the judge rule in favour of Rooney, the wife of football legend Wayne Rooney would be vindicated on the basis that she had good reason to make the accusation against Vardy. In addition, it may be ruled that her accusation was made in the interest of the public.
The third possible outcome could see a "halfway verdict" where Vardy is awarded a win on a technicality but only receives a token sum in damages.
The Guardian also reports that, rather than an in-court reading with media present, the verdict will appear online at midday tomorrow in the UK.
Such has been the interest in the case, the women's stories are set to be immortalised in a docudrama series, reports the Mirror.
The UK's Channel 4 confirmed the news on Twitter, describing the saga as the case that "put social media under the legal spotlight".
Titled Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama, according to the Mirror, the series will include genuine transcripts from court, revealing previously un-televised moments from the trial.
Meanwhile, according to the Sun, Rooney's husband has recently "beefed up security" at the family's £20 million ($38 million) mansion.
