Coleen Rooney ‘carried out dummy run’ before Wagatha Christie Instagram hunt
More details emerge of author’s infamous detective work to identify source of tabloid leaks
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Coleen Rooney carried out a "dummy run" ahead of her now infamous Wagatha Christie mole hunt, new documents are said to show.
The author caused an online sensation in October 2019 after she detailed how she had turned detective in a bid to identify who was leaking stories about her to the tabloid press.
In a Twitter post, she explained that by strategically blocking everyone but a single person from her private Instagram account, she had been able to identify that person’s account as the source of the articles.
“It's....... Rebekah Vardy's account,” she wrote.
Now, court documents seen by The Sun newspaper reportedly outline the extraordinary lengths she went to in a bid to execute her plan – including a test run of the scheme.
The 35-year-old – wife of former Manchester United and England star Wayne – firstly drew up a list of a list of possible suspects from 300 trusted friends and family that followed her Instagram account.
After zeroing in on Ms Vardy as the possible source, Ms Rooney posted a series of fake stories that only her prime suspect could see.
But before she executed the plan for real, she ran what was effectively a dress rehearsal where other posts were seen by other people as well as the 39-year-old wife of Leicester City striker Jamie.
Soon after, she then blocked everyone but Ms Vardy and created a series of fake posts "interspersed with true or mundane ones" – several of which ended up in the press.
"This led to her belief that it was the Claimant [Vardy] who was responsible for the leak, given her established history and habitual practice of providing private information to journalists and the Press,” the documents are said to say.
The papers are part of a libel battle currently progressing through the courts after Ms Vardy sued Ms Rooney for libel following the public accusation of betrayal.
Their libel battle is expected to kick-off at the High Court in April after attempts at meditation between the two parties failed.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.