Rebekah Vardy’s agent has appeared to admit leaking information on Coleen Rooney's 2019 “car crash” as the wife of the Leicester City striker gave evidence in the so-called “Wagatha Christie” libel trial.
Mrs Vardy’s third day in the witness box at the trial saw jurors hear how an article was published in The Sun about Mrs Rooney purportedly crashing her Honda car in early 2019.
On Thursday, the jurors read out text messages that Vardy exchanged with her agent Caroline Watt, who wrote in particular that “[Sun journalist Andy] Halls is trying to do a story on Coleen crashing her car but her PR won't even reply”. According to Watt, she had told Halls she was “100% confident that it happened but doesn't know how”.
Mrs Rooney for her part later told the court that she had in fact not crashed her car, but that another automobile had struck her vehicle. She then posted a tweet saying that it was "sad" someone who followed her was "betraying her".
Vardy's Wife Rejects Claims of 'Orchestrating' WAGs Photo at 2018 World Cup
In a separate development on Thursday, Vardy denied allegations of "orchestrating" a photograph of WAGs at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
This came after she was asked about the photo showing of a group of England players’ wives and girlfriends while at a St Petersburg restaurant during the World Cup.
Mrs Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne accused Mrs Vardy of secretly working with a paparazzi photographer to take a picture of her and her fellow WAGs at the restaurant. Sherborne has repeatedly argued that Mrs Vardy was lying about the extent of her relationship with the press.
He told the jurors on Thursday about a message exchange between Mrs Vardy and her agent, in which Watt said she had "got a photographer sorted for tomorrow" and Mrs Vardy replied "OK".
The wife of the Leicester City striker admitted that Watt had arranged for the photographer to take pictures of her as she left her hotel in St Petersburg, but rejected giving the photographer the location of either the hotel or a restaurant she went to the same evening with a group of the England team's WAGs.
Two WAGs' legal Battle
Rebekah and Coleen - among England’s most famous WAGs (Wives And Girlfriends) - have been engaged in a spat since October 2019 when Mrs Rooney claimed in an Instagram post she had found the person responsible for the media leaks related to her.
In a High Court decision handed down in November 2020, Justice Warby ruled that Mrs Rooney’s post "clearly identified" Mrs Vardy as being “guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust that she alleges”.
The wife of Wayne Rooney claimed she had carried out a sting operation to smoke out the culprit and then pointed the finger at Mrs Vardy, asserting that the 40-year-old shared fake stories she deliberately posted on the Instagram account with The Sun. The spouse of Jamie Vardy insists she is innocent.