Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney libel battle returns to the High Court today
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy could have phone inspected as part of wife’s legal battle
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Your support makes all the difference.The latest round of the libel battle between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney is due to be heard by the High Court today.
Ms Rooney accused Ms Vardy of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the media in October 2019 after carrying out a months-long “sting operation”.
The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” when she publicly alleged her fellow footballer’s wife shared fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.
Ms Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Ms Rooney for libel.
On Tuesday, a two-day hearing will begin at the Royal Courts of Justice in London which is expected to include arguments over documents to be used in the trial which is due to take place this year.
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During a previous hearing, the High Court heard Vardy’s phone could be inspected as part of his wife’s legal battle.
It comes after the court previously heard other people had accessed Vardy’s Instagram account, including her assistant Caroline Watt, Mr Vardy and his social media manager.
Both women will be using experts to analyse the Instagram data on relevant devices ahead of the trial.
However, the pair had not agreed on the scope of which devices, including phones, tablets or computers, should be included.
Judge Roger Eastman concluded the Instagram experts should be allowed to access data from other devices that had used Ms Vardy’s account, which could include her husband’s phone or computer.
The hearing in front of Ms Justice Steyn is due to begin around 10.30am on Tuesday.
In her original accusation against her former friend, Ms Rooney wrote on Instagram and Twitter: “For a few years now someone who I trusted to follow me on my personal Instagram account has been consistently informing The Sunnewspaper of my private posts and stories.
“I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s.......... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Ms Rooney has claimed she blocked everyone except Ms Vardy from seeing her Instagram stories between 1 September and 4 October 2019 before posting a selfie with text reading “easing my way back into work!! TV decisions today” on 25 September.
A story reporting her desire to revive her TV career appeared on The Sun’s website three days later, Ms Rooney claims.
However, Ms Rooney said she “invented” the story as part of her investigation to discover the source of the leaks and had no intention of entering into more television work.
Ms Rooney has also said she planted stories about her travelling to Mexico to “see what this gender selection is all about” and the basement flooding in her new house.
Additional reporting by Press Association