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.
We are pausing our live updates for the evening. Come back tomorrow for more live coverage.
Timeline for rest of trial
According to a draft timetable provided by Coleen Rooney‘s lawyers, Rebekah Vardy is due to finish giving her evidence on Thursday.
Ms Rooney is then expected to give evidence all day on Friday and finish on Monday morning.
Ms Rooney‘s witnesses - Joe McLoughlin, Paul Stretford, Ian Monk, Rachel Monk and Mark Whittle - are then due to give evidence on Monday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Wayne Rooney is due to give evidence, followed by Claire Rooney, Harpreet Robinson and Penny Adaarewa.
Lawyers for both women are then expected to give their closing arguments on Wednesday.
All we know about Coleen Rooney’s lawyer who also represented Johnny Depp and the Trumps
As the circus of the Wagatha Christie trial continues in London, much of media spotlight will be on Coleen Rooney’s lawyer David Sherbrone.
With a reputation as a barrister the rich and famous turn to for legal assistance, his previous client list includes Diana, Princess of Wales, Hollywood actor Michael Douglas and former prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie.
Among the other stars he has also represented are Donald and Melania Trump, Sheikh Abdulla Al-Khalifa, Sir Paul McCartney, Sienna Miller, Kate Moss and Harry Styles.
Read the full report here:
All we know about Coleen Rooney’s lawyer who represented Johnny Depp and the Trumps
David Sherborne has a history of representing the rich and famous in high-profile libel cases
ICYMI: Peter Andre speaks out about Rebekah Vardy ‘chipolata’ jibe
Peter Andre has hit back at Rebekah Vardy’s comments in which she compared the “size of his manhood” to a “small chipolata”.
The singer said he had been “the butt of all jokes” for 15 years after the remarks, which were made in a 2004 interview and have resurfaced in the high-profile libel trial between Ms Vardy and fellow footballer’s wife Coleen Rooney.
Here is the story:
Peter Andre speaks out about Rebekah Vardy ‘chipolata’ jibe about manhood
‘I’ve been laughing about it for a while but think about how it would feel if it was the other way round,’ says singer
Vardy ‘unable to disclose messages because they were deleted as she tried to export them'
Earlier in proceedings, the court heard that Ms Vardy claimed she was unable to disclose all the messages between her and Ms Watt because they were deleted as she tried to export them for disclosure.
Mr Sherborne said: “You say that as a result of that process all of the messages on your phone, all the WhatsApp messages on your phone between you and Ms Watt, were deleted, were lost.
“You know that your expert has described that as somewhat surprising and our expert indicates that someone has manually deleted them from the phone.
“No-one has said to you that Ms Rooney‘s expert says that there is no possible explanation for how that happened in any other way than someone manually, a human, deleting those messages on the phone?”
Court rises for the day
Rebekah Vardy’s cross-examination by Rooney’s lawyer has now come to an end and the court has risen for the day.
She will have to go through a short cross-examination by her own lawyers tomorrow morning, before her rival Coleen Rooney gives evidence.
Lawyers asking about missing messages between Vardy and Watt
Rooney’s lawyers are questioning Ms Vardy about nine months of missing messages between her and her agent.
Ms Vardy has said that she exported her Whatsapp chat with her agent Caroline Watt on 15th October 2019, however the first available message in this chat is on the 25th July 2020.
Mr Sherborne said: “You say the first available message between you and Ms Watt is the 25th July 2020.
“What has happened to all of the messages between you and Caroline Watt that happened between the 15th October 2019 when you carried out the export and the 25th July, so that is a good nine months later, what has happened to all of those messages?
Ms Vardy replied: “I can only imagine that I potentially switched phones during that period.”
Mr Sherborne replied: “Do you understand that it is a little disappointing to not have an anwer to that question.”
Ms Vardy added: “I can’t confirm or deny but I think I may have changed phones around that time.”
Mr Sherborne is alleging that Ms Vardy deleted these messages five days after the defence sent a letter to Ms Vardy’s legal team. The letter reiterated Rooney’s side’s desire to resolve the libel claim without it reaching court.
Evidence from Caroline Watt’s phone was not available to the court because she dropped it when “she was filming the coast line when on a boat trip in Scotland in August 2021 and was unable to retrieve it.”
Rooney’s lawyer is arguing that Vardy deleted evidence in advance of the trial
Rooney’s lawyer Mr Sherborne is arguing that Ms Vardy “deliberately concealed evidence of the secret passing of information in relation to Mrs Rooney’s instagram account.”
Ms Vardy exported the Whatsapp messages between her and her agent to provide as evidence. She denies she deleted any crucial evidence in advance of the trial.
“You say that as a result of that process [the exporting] all of the messages on your phone, between you and Ms Watt were deleted, were lost.” Mr Sherborne said.
“There are no messages left on your phone before the 15th October 2019 between you and Ms Watt.”
“Your expert has described that as somewhat surprising.
“You know that our expert says that this indicates that someone has manually deleted these from the phone.
“Mrs Rooney’s expert says that there is no other way that that happened - other than a human manually deleting those messages on the phone.”
Mr Sherborne alleged that Ms Vardy “made sure when you exported that we got no images, or audio, or video files.”
Ms Vardy replied that the losing of evidence was “extremely unfortunate”. She said that the “audio or whatever they were would have been extremely helpful to me.”
The court heard that the laptop that Ms Vardy used to export her Whatsapp messages has now been damaged and Ms Vardy no longer has it.
The court heard Ms Vardy’s lawyers disclosed that Ms Vardy had “disposed of it because it has been damaged beyond repair.”
Ms Vardy said: “It’s been broken for a long time. I don’t even have it anymore.”
Ms Vardy denied ever seeing a fake Instagram post about Ms Rooney visiting a gender selection clinic in Mexico in April 2019 which was leaked to the press the following August, the court heard.
She told the judge she had seen another post which she said suggested Ms Rooney wanted to have a daughter, but that post has never been found, the court heard.
Lawyer Mr Sherborne asked: “And you admit that you saw the gender selection post?”
“No I didn’t,” she said.
“That’s not the image I recall, I saw a different image.”
Mr Sherborne told the court “everyone has looked up hill and down dale in an attempt to find this post” but it has never been recovered.
Ms Vardy denied ever seeing a fake Instagram post about Ms Rooney visiting a gender selection clinic in Mexico in April 2019 which was leaked to the press the following August, the court heard.
Ms Vardy considered using the anniversary of Ms Rooney’s sister’s death to approach her after discovering she had been blocked on Instagram, the court heard.
Mr Sherborne questioned her over the mention of the sister, Rosie, during a conversation between her and Ms Watt after she was cut off on the social media platform.
He said: “You are trying to work out what you should do about the fact that Mrs Rooney has unfollowed you.”
Reading messages from her to Ms Watt, he continued: “‘I never usually message her’ and say here ‘maybe I should say some about Rosie’.
“So you were going use the anniversary of her deceased sister as the peg to message her?”
Ms Vardy replied that was an interpretation
“It’s the right interpretation, isn’t it?” he asked.
“No,” she responded.
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