Rebekah Vardy news – live: Coleen Rooney says marriage story hit at ‘vulnerable time’
Follow live on fourth day of trial
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Coleen Rooney has told the High Court she was in a “vulnerable position” when a story about her marriage to Wayne Rooney - that she believes was leaked from her private Instagram - hit the press.
She discussed a story in The Sun about the former England captain being allowed back into the family bed as she took the stand in her libel trial against fellow footballer’s wife Rebekah Vardy.
Ms Rooney also told the court her post naming-and-shaming Ms Vardy’s account as the suspected source of leaks to the press was her “last resort”.
The 36-year-old said she did not tell anyone about the ”sting” operation - which earned her the nickname “Wagatha Christie” when revealed to her followers - to try and work out who was behind the leaks.
Earlier in the morning, Ms Vardy revealed to the court she messaged Peter Andre and his wife about her now-infamous News of the World interview, in which she compared his private anatomy to a “chipolata”.
Ms Rooney is being sued by the wife of Premier League player Jamie Vardy for libel over the story leak accusations.
Coleen Rooney has said that her ‘Wagatha Christie’ post was “my last resort”.
Speaking about why she posted the infamous message, Ms Rooney said: “I wasn’t trying to achieve anything. What I wanted was to stop the person who was leaking my private information to the Sun.”
Referring to the Sun’s stories, she said: “It didn’t stop and this was my last resort.”
Ms Rooney said: “I was surprised myself by how much interest [the post] caused.”
Ms Rooney said it was never her intention for Ms Vardy to be trolled on social media.
“That was not my intention at all, not at all. It is not in my nature to cause abuse or trauma in any way at all,” she said.
She added that she couldn’t mitigate the abuse online because Ms Vardy got lawyers involved from Day One and she was being instructed her own solicitor.
Speaking about her private information being leaked, Ms Rooney said: “I was upset that my personal information, that my personal information was getting passed on to a newspaper.”
“This was different. It was group of people that I had accepted into my personal space,” she said, referring to her private Instagram followers.
Referring to her ‘Wagatha Christie’ post, Ms Rooney said: “I was making an accusation against her account”.
“And I know that you have to give people permission to be on that account... I thought that Rebekah would know... and that she had given consent [for someone] to be on her account.”
Court rises and Rebekah Vardy’s testimony comes to a close
The High Court has risen. Rebekah Vardy’s testimony has now come to a close.
‘I wanted to clear my name'
Rebekah Vardy has defiantly said “I didn’t do anything wrong” and said she brought this case to trial because: “I wanted to clear my name”.
Speaking in a wobbling voice at the end of her witness testimony, Ms Vardy said: “It didn’t do anything wrong and I wanted to clear my name, and I wanted it not just for me but for my family and my children.”
Her lawyer Mr Tomlinson asked Ms Vardy how she had found being cross-examined in the court room.
Ms Vardy replied: “Exhausting, intimidating, I feel like I’ve been bullied and manipulated.”
Rebekah Vardy says she was having ‘constant panic attacks’ around the time she exported key Whatsapp messages
Rebekah Vardy has told the court that she was having “constant panic attacks, anxiety” during the time she was exporting key Whatsapp messages between herself and her agnet Caroline Watt.
Ms Vardy exported the messages on 15th October 2019 and the way they have been exported is a topic of contention for the lawyers in this libel trial.
Rooney’s lawyers allege she deleted certain messages. Ms Vardy said she did not intentionally delete evidence.
Vardy’s lawyer Mr Tomlinson asked her “what was your state of mind” during that time.
“I wasn’t very well, constant panic attacks, anxiety, and I was scared I was going to lose my baby,” Ms Vardy said.
Court breaks as Rebekah Vardy starts to cry in the witness stand
The court is taking a midmorning break. Justice Steyn suggested the break after Rebekah Vardy started to cry in the witness stand.
Ms Vardy was recalling online abuse she had received.
Rebekah Vardy had video call with Wayne Rooney about reports she needed to keep a lower profile at the Euros
Rebekah Vardy told the court that she had a video call with Wayne Rooney about reports in the media that she needed to keep a lower profile at the Euros in 2016.
Press had reported that Mr Rooney had told Mr Vardy that Rebekah should keep her head down during the tournament .
Ms Vardy’s lawyer Mr Hugh Tomlinson QC asked her: “It’s suggested that your husband was told by Mr Rooney that you should be keeping a lower profile during that tournament. Do you remember?”
Ms Vardy replied: “Yes I remember”.
Mr Tomlinson said: “You said that wasn’t the case.” To which Ms Vardy agreed.
She told the court: “I had conversations with Mr Rooney on Facetime about it.. He said it was a load of bollocks.”
She added: “I thought the media were trying to cause problems, stir up trouble, create unnecessary drama.”
Recap: Vardy says Peter Andre comments are ‘one of my biggest regrets’
Rebekah Vardy said she did not say many things presented in an article published in the News Of The World about a sexual encounter she had with Peter Andre, the High Court heard.
Ms Vardy said: “There’s a lot of things in there that didn’t come out of my mouth that were misrepresented in the circumstances around that article I’m deeply sorry for.”
She also said she was “very young” at the time, had apologised for the article, and that it was “shameful”, adding that she had sent “personal messages” to Mr Andre and his partner since it was published.
“It’s one of my biggest regrets,” she said.
‘What have you done?’: Vardy messages to footballer Danny Drinkwater
Rebekah Vardy messaged footballer Danny Drinkwater after he crashed his car in a drink-driving incident, saying: “What have you done (shocked face emoji) Danny for f**** sake (crying face emoji)”.
Ms Vardy had previously admitted to the court that she considered leaking the story about his car crash to the media.
She messaged her agent at the time saying the footballer had “crashed his car drink with 2 girls in it” and had been arrested.
After telling Ms Watt this information, Ms Vardy added: “I want paying for this x”.
When she found out that the Sun already knew about the crash, Ms Vardy messaged Ms Watt saying: “Holy f**.*... I’m fuming I didn’t give it to you earlier x”.
There was later a discussion between Ms Vardy and Ms Watt about whether they could get Mr Drinkwater’s address so paparazzi to photograph him.
Ms Vardy told the court that she never asked Mr Drinkwater for his address for this purpose. “No I didn’t,” she said.
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