Rebekah Vardy has lost her legal battle to sue Coleen Rooney for defamation.
The internet exploded on October 9, 2019 when Mrs Rooney accused Mrs Vardy's Instagram account of selling stories about her. Mrs Rooney earned the nickname "Wagatha Christie" after she shared details of the sting operation she conducted to find out who she believed was selling stories about her to The S*n.
The High Court ruled today that Mrs Rooney's claims were "substantially true" as Mrs Vardy failed in her attempts to sue for defamation. Documents released by the court have provided a behind the scenes look at how Mrs Rooney conducted the sting operation.
READ MORE: Rebekah Vardy gets just desserts as Coleen Rooney wins Wagatha Christie court battle
Coleen was suspicious Mrs Vardy's account was the source of the leaks when the press became aware of a post shared on her private Instagram account detailing her involvement in a car crash. This prompted Coleen to remove Mrs Vardy from her followers
Coleen reinstated Vardy only to be subjected to another leak when the press found out the Rooneys had found a babysitter in Washington. This prompted her to restrict all other followers other than Ms Vardy from seeing her story.
In Coleen's bombshell tweet where she first publicly accused Ms Vardy of selling her stories to the press she cited fake Instagram Stories that appeared in the S*n newspaper. She said: "The story about gender selection in Mexico, the story about returning to TV and then the latest story about the basement flooding in my new house."
Coleen has since conceded the TV article was not "a result of a leak of her information by Ms Vardy", but court documents give a greater insight into the other two fake Instagram Stories as part of the sting operation. The Gender Selection post was shared "at 1.41pm on 8 April 2019" and included a photograph of the back of an aeroplane seat with the caption, “Let’s go and see what this gender selection is all about[anxious/grimacing emoji and pink hearts]".
The documents added: "Ms Rooney created the Gender Selection Post because she thought a story about her looking into gender selection would be likely to be leaked to the press, as she had four sons and there had been media speculation about whether she would ever have a girl. The story was false. The Gender Selection Post did not immediately find its way to the press (and there is no evidence the other posts uploaded on 8 and 9 April were leaked). As she wished to be able to use her Private Instagram Account normally at that point on 10 April 2019 Ms Rooney made her posts and stories visible to her other followers again."
However, the gender selection posts were published four months later in the S*n on 15 and 16 August 2019. The judge ruled in the documents it was likely the story was leaked by Vardy's former agent, Caroline Watt. The document added: "Ms Vardy accepts that Ms Watt may have used her Instagram account to access and disclose the Gender Selection Post but she denies, if that is so, that she knew anything about it or condoned such disclosure. I reject that contention.
"First, I have found that Ms Vardy’s evidence regarding the Gender Selection Post is not credible. Secondly, I have found that Ms Vardy and Ms Watt have deliberately deleted or destroyed evidence. Given that the Reveal Post expressly referred to this post, I draw the inference that evidence of the disclosure to The S*n of the Gender Selection Post is likely to have been deleted. Thirdly, the pattern of working together to give the press information is evident. The evidence is wholly inconsistent with the thesis that Ms Watt was acting alone, without Ms Vardy’s knowledge, consent or approval."
On August 15, 2019, Coleen once again used the hide a story function on her Private Instagram Account to prevent all followers except Vardy from seeing her posts. Coleen posted a mixture of “mundane posts" to content she thought “was more likely to be of interest to The S*n” over a prolonged period in the second stage of the sting operation.
The documents added: "During this second stage of the Sting Operation, Ms Rooney uploaded more than 50 stories. The content of only one of these stories (the Flooded Basement Post) was published in The S*n."
Coleen uploaded a story to her Private Instagram Account on October 2, 2019 that included a a bottle of wine with the caption: " “Needed after today [grimacing face emoji]…flood in the basement of our new house…when it seemed to be going so well. ”
The post was fabricated by Coleen as the documents added: "There is compelling evidence that it was visible only to Ms Vardy’s account." The post was later an article in the S*n newspaper on October 8, 2019 and the judge ruled there is no other "realistic source" for this story other than Ms Vardy and/or Ms Watt.
The documents added: "Given that the story that the basement had flooded was untrue, and it was a story that no one other than those with access to Ms Vardy’s Instagram account would have been aware of, it is plain that the articles were based on the Flooded Basement Post. Although the articles quote a source giving more information than is contained in the Flooded Basement Post, there is no realistic possibility that there could have been any source of this fabricated story other than Ms Watt and/or Ms Vardy.
"It is unclear whether this quotation was provided by Ms Watt/Ms Vardy or concocted by the journalists. Either way, the quotation attributed to a source in the Flooded Basement Articles reinforces my view that it is probable that Ms Vardy and Ms Watt were the only source of the Car Crash Article."
Coleen sent out her bombshell tweet the day after the article was published bringing the "Wagatha Christie" dispute into the public eye.
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