Wayne and Coleen Rooney leave the Royal Courts Of Justice, London. Photo / AP
Wayne and Coleen Rooney leave the Royal Courts Of Justice, London. Photo / AP
Coleen Rooney has told a London court how she was left "fuming" when private details of her reconciliation with her former footballer husband Wayne were fed to the media, leading her to carry out a sophisticated sting operation that she said identified Rebekah Vardy as the source of the leaks.
Rooney told the High Court that a now-famous social media post in which she accused Vardy's Instagram account of being behind a series of leaked stories was her "last resort" as she tried to catch the person responsible "red-handed".
In what has become the battle royal of the WAGs (footballer's wives and girlfriends), Vardy, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, is now suing Rooney for libel over her claims that she was responsible for planting stories in the press taken from Rooney's private Instagram account.
Giving evidence in her defence, Rooney said that details about a reconciliation with her husband Wayne, the former England and Manchester United player, were leaked to the Sun in 2017.
These included details of her returning to the family home she shared with Rooney after she had been spending time at her parents' house following a turbulent spell in their marriage.
Although she posted on her public social media accounts a photograph of herself and her children in matching polka dot pyjamas on the family bed, she claimed details she had mentioned only on her private account were also leaked.
Rooney, 36, told the court that the "pyjama post" was made when she was "going through a difficult time in my marriage" and had upset her because she felt cornered by the revelations.
"I didn't know how my marriage was going to work out at the time. I and Wayne was trying to figure out our relationship, and see how things were going," she said.
Rooney, who arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice dressed entirely in cream, said a photograph of damage to her Honda car after it was scraped by a lorry in Washington DC in January 2019 had also been leaked from her private Instagram account.
These and other leaks led her to set up a sting operation to trap the person responsible, during which Rooney planted deliberately false stories to see if they were passed on to the press.
Speaking from the witness stand, Rooney said: "It could have only come from my private Instagram account. The fact the Sun reported all this stuff that had happened and was untrue gave me the anger to put it out to the public that someone was giving out my private information. I was angry. I was fuming."
In her witness statement, Rooney said after suspecting Vardy of being responsible for the leaks, she had published two warning posts and temporarily removed her from her account, "but nothing had worked".
Rebekah Vardy arrives at the Royal Courts Of Justice in London. Photo / AP
Describing her plan, Rooney said in her witness statement: "I wanted to catch the account responsible 'red-handed' as it were and so I came up with a plan."
She added: "I decided that I would invent and fabricate a story, limit accessibility in such a way so that it was only Becky's [Vardy] Instagram account that could view it, upload it to Instagram via Instagram Stories for 24 hours so that it was only 'Seen By' Becky's Instagram account and then I would wait and see whether my fabricated/invented story, which had only been seen by Becky's Instagram account, appeared in The Sun."
Following the sting operation, Rooney said she became convinced that Vardy's account had been the origin of the leaks about her.
In October 2019, she shared the now-viral social media post in which she accused Vardy, 40, of leaking "false stories" about her private life to the press.
In the post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, she wrote: "I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It's ... Rebekah Vardy's account."
Rooney told the court on the fourth day of her libel trial: "What I thought was that Rebekah herself or someone else was doing it and Rebekah knew about it. I was making accusations against her account."
Rooney's evidence came after Vardy had concluded her evidence on Friday morning, during which she repeatedly broke down in tears.
At one stage Vardy, who denies being the source of leaks about Rooney, or of instructing her agent Caroline Watt to leak material, said she found the long process of giving evidence against her fellow Wag "exhausting and intimidating", adding: "I feel I have been bullied and manipulated."
When asked by her legal counsel, Hugh Tomlinson QC, why she was pursuing the case against Rooney, she said: "I didn't do anything wrong. I wanted to clear my name, not just for me, but for my family and my children."
During her evidence, Vardy said derogatory comments she had made in a 2004 News of the World story about Peter Andre's body following a sexual encounter were "shameful" and among her "biggest regrets".
We will continue bringing you live updates when the trial resumes on Monday.
4.13pm Rooney says she would "never confirm someone else's information" to a newspaper
Rooney tells the court she would "never confirm someone else's information to a national newspaper".
In her written witness statement, Vardy remembered journalists speaking about Rooney allegedly being in a car crash while attending the National Television Awards in January 2019, with her agent Caroline Watt later telling her that The Sun was trying to do a story on it. Vardy denies leaking any information.
"I just don't understand why Vardy would have to confirm my information to The Sun," Rooney says.
Tomlinson says "anyone could have told The Sun" about Rooney's alleged "car crash" about which The Sun published an article in 2019.
"You don't know whether the source of that story in the post, or whether the source of the story is some completely different person, some completely different way of getting information," Tomlinson says.
Coleen Rooney had shared a post on her private Instagram account regarding her car crash in January 2019, which showed her car with the side of the car caved in overlaid with the caption "RIP half a Honda".
The Sun newspaper published an article about the alleged crash on January 25, 2019, carrying the accompanied byline of Andy Halls, with the headline:
"ROO-INED MOTOR Coleen Rooney narrowly avoids injury in a car crash and wrecks 4×4 just weeks after Wayne's arrest for public intoxication in Washington".
The story quotes a "source" who said that "one side of the car was completely caved in".
Tomlinson says "the car crash post has very little relationship if any," to the contents of the article, to which Rooney replies: "No, I don't believe so".
3.39pm Rooney says she 'didn't have a clue who alleged leaker was 'early on'
Rooney says that "early on" she "didn't have a clue" who was allegedly leaking information from her private Instagram.
In her October 2019 post about her so-called "sting operation", Rooney publicly claimed that an account behind three fake stories in The Sun that she had posted on her personal Instagram account was Vardy's.
Amid questions about the 2017 post featuring her children, she tells the court it was "the same person who I believe has done the same with all of them", who had a "connection with The Sun" and had "betrayed my trust".
3.33 pm Rooney quizzed over the 2017 Instagram post
Rooney is asked questions about a post she said she made on her private Instagram account in 2017 that featured her then three children with the caption "no matter where I am they always follow me, and I hope that lasts forever".
She tells the court that the post was made when she was "going through a difficult time in my marriage" and had just returned from a family holiday.
Rooney says she deleted the post because she was "inundated" with messages asking "if I was OK", with Tomlinson telling the court that Vardy also sent a "supportive" message.
"I wasn't in any state of mind to reply to any messages," Rooney said.
Rooney claims the text in the post was later featured in a Sun article about the state of her marriage.
Tomlinson puts it to Rooney that there was not "a shred of evidence" that Vardy had leaked this post.
"It was someone who was on my Instagram account and I believe that it was Vardy," Rooney replies.
Coleen Rooney, wife of former England soccer player Wayne Rooney. Photo / AP
3.14pm Rooney says she is 'glad to have put an end to alleged leaking
In her witness statement, Coleen Rooney said she was "glad [to] have put an end" to the leaking of information she alleges Rebekah Vardy carried out.
Rooney wrote:
"I should add that my concerns went beyond my posts.
"I knew that I could not be the only one whose trust was being abused by the culprit and I now know from having seen the WhatsApp exchanges between Becky and Caroline that Becky was leaking information about a whole range of other people too.
"The Sun, in particular, do write a lot of not nice stories," Rooney says.
But she says this happened "for years", and that her problem lay with the sharing of information from her private account rather than the newspaper.
Rebekah Vardy leaves the Royal Courts Of Justice, London. Photo / AP
2.42pm Rooney says Vardy would have 'pretended to be her friend' if confronted privately
Coleen Rooney has said she thought Rebekah Vardy would "try to explain it away or pretend to be my friend" if she confronted her fellow footballer's wife privately about alleged leaks.
She wrote in her witness statement:
"Nobody had ever contacted me in advance of leaking my posts and stories to The Sun to ask if I was okay with it - on the contrary, I had made it abundantly clear that I was unhappy about the leaks and they continued regardless.
"I took the view that enough warning had already been given and decided to go public."
She continued: "I had never actually spoken to Becky on the phone before or met up just the two of us, so we didn't have that direct kind of relationship.
"I also knew that she had a very close relationship with the media so I thought that if I confronted her privately then she would probably just try to explain it away or pretend to be my friend and supportive, as she had done before, and then spin the narrative publicly."
2.41pm Rooney wanted to catch alleged leaker 'red-handed'
Coleen Rooney wanted to catch the account responsible for leaking her information "red-handed", she told the court in her written evidence.
In her witness statement, Rooney said she had made two warning posts and temporarily removed Rebekah Vardy from her account "but nothing had worked".
"I wanted to catch the account responsible 'red-handed' as it were and so I came up with a plan."
Describing her plan, Rooney said: "I decided that I would invent and fabricate a story, limit accessibility in such a way so that it was only Becky's Instagram account that could view it, upload it to Instagram via Instagram Stories for 24 hours so that it was only 'Seen By' Becky's Instagram account and then I would wait and see whether my fabricated/invented story, which had only been seen by Becky's Instagram account, appeared in The Sun."
She added: "For the avoidance of any doubt, I did not mention this plan or the content of the Sting Operation to anyone or discuss it with any person at any time.
"Nobody knew the detail of what was going on apart from me. It killed me not telling anyone about it but I managed it."
2.33pm ' I hate gossip, I'm not a gossip,' Rooney says
Responding to questions from Vardy's lawyer, Rooney says: "I hate gossip, I'm not a gossip. I don't like to say things unless I know it's true."
She says that "it all added up to me that [the alleged leaks] came from [Vardy's] account".
2.32pm Vardy's lawyer says that any follower on Rooney's private account could have leaked information
Vardy's lawyer tells the court that any of the followers on Rooney's private Instagram account – of which there are around 300, including local businesses – could have been behind leaks.
"You hope and expect that people who have access to your private Instagram account will keep its contents away from the press, but you can't guarantee it," Mr Tomlinson says. "You can't be sure."
"No you can't," Rooney responds, but she goes on to say that she believes leaks to The Sun "came from [Rebekah Vardy's] account".
"If I had any distrust in [any of the businesses among her followers] I wouldn't have them on my account," she says.
2.14pm Rooney questioned over 'sting operation' Instagram story
Back in the witness box, Rooney is questioned by Vardy's lawyer about her so-called "sting operation".
Tomlinson asks her about a "false" post she shared in September 2019 regarding her planning to return to TV.
He says that an article later published in The Sun – titled "ROO-MBA Coleen Rooney in talks to join Strictly next year as she looks to revive TV career when Wayne returns to the UK" – had nothing to with Rooney's "sting operation" post, as the article was about a different television show.
Rooney says she still believes her Instagram story was the source of the article.
Wayne and Coleen Rooney leave the Royal Courts Of Justice, London. Photo / AP
2.05pm And we're back.
Coleen Rooney has returned to the witness box after a break for lunch.
2.04pm 'Regular occurrence' for Rebekah Vardy to message Rooney after press coverage
Coleen Rooney said it was "a regular occurrence" that she would be messaged by Rebekah Vardy when there was press coverage about Rooney. Vardy was "not in my circle", Rooney told the High Court.
"I felt like when she contacted me it was to try and get information out of me," she added.
Vardy's messages to her came "when something not nice was going on in my personal life", Rooney claimed.
She said Vardy's messages were "generally nice", but added that "towards the end it was a bit unusual".
"Someone who was not that close to me... constantly checking in with me all the time," Rooney said.
2.04pm Rooney says Vardy's message referencing sister 'knocked her sick'
In her witness statement, Coleen Rooney said a message between Rebekah Vardy and her agent referencing her deceased sister "knocked me sick" when it was disclosed.
Rooney wrote in her witness statement: "While they were discussing her messaging me to cover her tracks, Becky says to Caroline Watt 'maybe I should say something about Rosie'.
"Rosie is a reference to my sister who suffered from Rett Syndrome and passed away in 2013 at the age of just 14.
"The mere fact that Becky would suggest seeking to use Rosie's name in conversation with me to put me off the scent of suspecting Becky as the person responsible for leaking my private information to The Sun is really low and sad.
"It knocked me sick when I read that message from Becky to Caroline."
Rooney says she tried to resolve libel trial three times 'in vain' Coleen Rooney tried to resolve her libel battle with Rebekah Vardy on three occasions "in vain", she told the court in her written evidence.
In her witness statement, she said: "I have sought to resolve this matter amicably on various occasions because I was of the view that the time, money, resources and efforts involved could be better spent elsewhere, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"However, the efforts I made in May 2020, before proceedings being issued, in October 2020, after I had filed my defence, and in January 2021, during a stay in the proceedings, were all in vain.
"I have no doubt that this litigation, whatever the outcome, will benefit neither Becky nor myself."
12.51pm Rooney says she 'was fuming' when she discovered alleged leaks
Responding to questioning from Hugh Tomlinson QC, Rooney says she "was fuming" when she discovered that someone had, as she alleges, been leaking information from her private Instagram account to The Sun.
She says she knew "straight away" that a story about her alleged "car crash" that was published in The Sun had come from her private Instagram account.
"I was fuming," she says.
12.37pm Rooney says she 'would never wish abuse upon anyone'
When asked about the online abuse Vardy received after the social media post went viral, Rooney said she "would never wish abuse upon anyone... it's not nice, and I would never let anyone get abused on my behalf. That was not intended at all."
She agrees that she did not do anything to mitigate the abuse Vardy received.
12.29 pm Rooney says she 'didn't want to be in court today'
Under questioning from Vardy's lawyer, Rooney says she: "didn't want to be in this court today ... but obviously Vardy has brought me here."
12.29 pm Coleen Rooney says 'It's... Rebekah Vardy's account' post was her 'last resort'
Vardy's lawyer has asked Rooney what she was "trying to achieve" with her October 2019 social media post, in which she accused Vardy of leaking information about her to the press.
"I wasn't trying to achieve anything," she says, adding that she wanted "to stop" the individual "leaking stories to The Sun".
Rebekah Vardy arrives at the Royal Courts Of Justice in London. Photo / AP
She said it was her "last resort", and that she was "surprised" by the impact of the post.
She says that she was making an accusation against Vardy's account.
Coleen Rooney has entered the witness box, and is due to begin giving evidence.
12.15 pm Rebekah Vardy has felt 'bullied and manipulated' while giving evidence, court hears
Rebekah Vardy has said that she felt "bullied and manipulated" during cross-examination by Coleen Rooney's lawyer, as her own lawyer concluded his questioning.
Vardy said that her experience in court has been "exhausting, intimidating … I feel like I've been bullied and manipulated," in response to a question from Hugh Tomlinson QC.
When asked why she has brought the case to court, she replied in tears: "I didn't do anything wrong, I wanted to clear my name, not just for me but my family and my children."
11.58 am Vardy says she was having 'constant panic attacks' when she exported WhatsApp messages
When Tomlinson asks Vardy what her state of mind was like when she conducted the export that Sherborne quizzed her about yesterday, she responds: "I wasn't very well, I was having constant panic attacks, anxiety... I was scared I was going to lose my baby."
11.57 am Vardy questioned about alleged 'deletion' of messages
Rebekah Vardy has returned to the witness box after becoming tearful again.
Her lawyer asks her about her alleged "deletion" of WhatsApp messages, which Coleen Rooney's lawyer questioned her about yesterday.
"It's been suggested that you deliberately deleted the images on your WhatsApp, so as to conceal wrongdoing... that's what's being said against you," Tomlinson says.
Vardy says she did not "leak" the collage of photos or "screenshot and forward them to a Sun journalist".
11.16 am Vardy denies telling agent to obtain information for Sun 'leak'
Rebekah Vardy has denied instructing her agent, Caroline Watt, to view Coleen Rooney's private Instagram account to find information about damage to Rooney's car to feed to The Sun.
Hugh Tomlinson QC asks: "Were you instructing Caroline Watt to go into the Instagram to obtain information to leak to The Sun?"
Vardy replies: "No, I wasn't".
11.08 am Lawyer asks Vardy about Riyad Mahrez messages
Vardy's lawyer asks her about messages she sent to Caroline Watt about footballer Riyad Mahrez not turning up to training in 2018.
Earlier this week, Coleen Rooney's lawyer David Sherborne asked Vardy about the messages, alleging that she had told The Sun that the "lads" were "fuming" – but Vardy denied this, saying she had just been "gossiping" with her agent.
When asked by her lawyer if she leaked to the Sun that Mahrez's teammates were "fuming", Vardy says "absolutely not".
10.50 am Vardy 'does not know' how often ex-agent looked at Rooney's private Instagram account
Under questioning from her lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC, Vardy says she is unaware how often her former agent Caroline Watt looked at Rooney's private Instagram account.
She says she gave Watt access to her account in November 2017, before she entered the I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here jungle.
Rebekah Vardy has arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice for the fourth day of the libel trial.
10.04 am Coleen and Wayne Rooney arrive at court
Coleen and Wayne Rooney walked through a crowd of photographers as they entered the Royal Courts of Justice for the fourth day of the Wagatha Christie libel trial.
Rooney, who wore an all-white outfit, arrived in a silver Mercedes van with her husband, who donned a blue suit for the proceedings.
The couple did not respond to calls from the press as they passed through the main entrance of the court building.
On a bruising day of evidence in the High Court yesterday, Vardy twice broke down and proceedings had to be paused while she composed herself. Rooney and her husband, Wayne, looked on as Vardy wept.
• David Sherborne, for Rooney, challenged Vardy over alleged "missing messages", the so-called "false" stories "planted" by his client, and other aspects of Vardy's witness statement. • He accused Vardy of suffering from "selective amnesia", and said: "If it looks like a leak and it sounds like a leak… it's more likely than not a leak." • Caroline Watt is too "fragile" to give evidence in person, the court heard. Vardy ended her evidence by claiming that her agent had been "driven to suicidal thoughts by these proceedings and the antics of the defendant". • Under questioning from Sherborne, Vardy denied that she was behind The Sun's 'Secret Wag' column. • Vardy agreed a Sun article came from Rooney's private Instagram account – but denied it came from her. • Vardy was accused of telling a Sun journalist about Rooney's "car crash" Instagram post.
