Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy in court as 'Wagatha Christie' case reignited
Rebekah Vardy, the wife of Leicester City star Jamie Vardy, lost her libel case against Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney's wife Coleen in 2022, but their court battle is not over yet
Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney will hit the courtroom again as the aftermath of their sensational 'Wagatha Christie' drama rumbles on.
The WAG showdown continues today (Monday, October 7) after Rebekah, 42, famously lost her libel claim against Coleen, 38, in July 2022. That high profile case saw Mrs Justice Steyn rule that Coleen's viral social media post, in which she accused Rebekah of leaking stories to The Sun newspaper using information taken from her private Instagram account, was "substantially true".
The same judge ruled in October that year that Rebekah - the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - should pay 90% of Coleen's court costs. The wife of Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney incurred total costs of more than £2million, but £350,000 of those had been racked up before the trial began in May 2022.
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Rebekah was ordered to pay £800,000 of the costs bill that November. However, that was not Coleen's final total costs bill and now the case is set to return to the High Court in London for a hearing before a specialist costs judge, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Specialist costs judges assess the costs and expenses incurred during civil cases and rule on how much successful parties can recover. But they can also reduce the costs if needed, or if they are deemed to be unreasonable, and the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning will see Rebekah challenge some of the costs submitted by Coleen.
Coleen stunned the world with her post on X - then Twitter - in October 2019, which was at the heart of Rebekah's libel claim. The former Everton star's WAG said she had carried out a sting operation over many months, before identifying that it was Rebekah's account behind the leaks.
She wrote: "Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into The Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!”
She added: "It's been tough keeping it to myself and not making any comment at all, especially when the stories have been leaked, however I had to. Now I know for certain which account/individual it's come from.
"I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It's ...... Rebekah Vardy's account."
Coleen publicly claimed Rebekah's account was the source behind three stories in The Sun featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram profile – featuring her travelling to Mexico for a "gender selection" procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
Following the high-profile trial, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in her favour, finding it was "likely" that Rebekah's former agent Caroline Watt had passed information to the newspaper and that she "knew of and condoned this behaviour".
The judge added Rebekah had "actively" engaged, "directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney's posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt".