Wagatha Christie timeline: How the Vardy v Rooney libel battle played out

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The opening instalment of Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama,Channel 4’s new two-part documentary drama about the notorious legal battle between footballers’ wives Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy airs on Wednesday evening.

Starring Natalia Tena and Chanel Cresswell in the title roles and the acclaimed Michael Sheen as barrister David Sherborne, the film is said to be based on transcripts of the proceedings that unfolded in London’s High Court earlier this year and promises to deliver a thrilling account of a case that gripped the nation and became known as the “Wagatha Christie” trial.

Here’s a reminder of how the case escalated from a social media row over leaked Instagram stories into one of the most high-profile celebrity libel clashes in a decade, resulting in Ms Vardy’s eventual defeat on 29 July.

– September 2017 to October 2019 – The Sun newspaper runs a number of articles about Ms Rooney, including that she travelled to Mexico to look into baby “gender selection” treatment, her plan to revive her TV career and the flooding of her basement.

– 9 October 2019 – Ms Rooney uses social media to accuse Ms Vardy of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids.

Ms Rooney says she spent five months attempting to work out who was sharing information about her and her family based on posts she had made on her personal social media page.

After sharing a series of “false” stories and using a process of elimination, Ms Rooney claims they were viewed by one Instagram account, belonging to Ms Vardy.

Ms Vardy, then pregnant with her fifth child, denies the allegations and says various people had access to her Instagram over the years.

She claims to be “so upset” by Ms Rooney’s accusation, later adding: “I thought she was my friend but she completely annihilated me.”

The public dispute makes headlines around the world, with the hashtag #WagathaChristie trending.

– 13 February 2020 – In a tearful appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, Ms Vardy says the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she “ended up in hospital three times”.

Ms Rooney says in a statement that she does not want to “engage in further public debate”.

– 23 June 2020 – It emerges that Ms Vardy has launched libel proceedings against Ms Rooney.

Ms Vardy’s lawyers allege she “suffered extreme distress, hurt, anxiety and embarrassment as a result of the publication of the post and the events which followed”.

– 19-20 November 2020 – The libel battle has its first High Court hearing in London.

A judge rules that Ms Rooney’s October 2019 post “clearly identified” Ms Vardy as being “guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust”.

Mr Justice Warby concludes that the “natural and ordinary” meaning of the posts was that Ms Vardy had “regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Ms Rooney’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun of Ms Rooney’s private posts and stories”.

– 8-9 February 2022 – A series of explosive messages between Ms Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt – which Ms Rooney’s lawyers allege were about her – are revealed at a preliminary court hearing.

The court is told Ms Vardy was not referring to Ms Rooney when she called someone a “nasty bitch” in one exchange with Ms Watt.

Ms Rooney’s lawyers seek further information from the WhatsApp messages, but the court is told that Ms Watt’s phone fell into the North Sea after a boat she was on hit a wave, before further information could be extracted from it.

– 14 February – Ms Rooney is refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Ms Watt for misuse of private information to be heard alongside the libel battle.

A High Court judge, Ms Justice Steyn, says the bid was brought too late and previous opportunities to make the claim had not been taken.

– 13 April – Ms Watt is not fit to give oral evidence at the upcoming libel trial, the High Court is told as the case returns for another hearing.

The agent revokes permission for her witness statement to be used, and withdraws her waiver, which would have allowed Sun journalists to say whether she was a source of the allegedly leaked stories.

– 29 April – Ms Vardy “appears to accept” that her agent was the source of allegedly leaked stories, Ms Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne tells the High Court.

He argues that a new witness statement submitted by Ms Vardy suggests Ms Watt was the source but Ms Vardy claims she “did not authorise or condone her”.

Ms Vardy’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson says the statement did not contain “any change whatever in the pleaded case”, with her legal team having no communication with Ms Watt.

– 10-19 May – Ms Vardy and Ms Rooney come face to face in court as the trial of their libel battle takes place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London before Ms Justice Steyn. Both women give evidence, as revelations from the case make daily headlines across the British press.

20 May – An agreed 313-page bundle of evidence is released including pictures from Ms Rooney’s Instagram account and screenshots where Ms Vardy complained to her husband Jamie Vardy that she was being made a “scapegoat” during Euro 2016.

29 July – Ms Justice Steyn dismissed the claim, finding Ms Rooney had proved that the meaning of the post was “substantially true”.