Rebekah Vardy has had her first victory in her court case with Coleen Rooney as she has had parts of Coleen's defence thrown out by a High Court judge as their libel case rumbles on.
In October 2019, Wayne Rooney's wife pointed the finger at fellow WAG Rebekah and said it was her Instagram account that 'leaked false stories' about her in a dramatic tweet, writes The Mirror.
Coleen was then branded 'Wagatha Christie' after she claimed she came to the conclusion Rebekah was behind it after she spent months planting false stories on her private account which ended up in the papers, and only Vardy's account had access to them, she alleged.
Vardy, who was pregnant at the time of the accusations, is married to Leicester City star Jamie, and has strenuously denied the claims.
At a hearing last month, Vardy asked the High Court judge to strike parts of Rooney's defence from the evidence in their legal dispute.
At the High Court today, Mrs Justice Steyn agreed to dismiss a claim by Rooney that her fellow footballer's wife showed "publicity seeking behaviour" when sitting behind Mrs Rooney in someone else's seat at the 2016 Euros.
Mrs Justice Steyn found that even assuming the allegation was true, it would still not help Mrs Rooney's case.
She said: "The fact that a person seeks media coverage of their own attendance at a football match does not make it more probable that they would disclose private information about another person to the press."
However, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled against Mrs Vardy on other parts of Mrs Rooney's defence and denied her bid for summary judgment - a legal step which would see that part of the case resolved without a trial - concerning Mrs Rooney's claim that Mrs Vardy leaked a story to The Sun about her returning to TV presenting.
At the WAGs' last court meeting in June, Vardy's team argued that some of Rooney's defence, including allegations about their client's relationship with The Sun newspaper were "irrelevant or peripheral' to the case.
Hugh Tomlinson QC argued the focus of the hearing was whether Vardy had shared the stories from Rooney's Instagram page or not.
"Even if it were established that the claimant has ‘an exceptionally close relationship’ with The Sun, that it gave her positive coverage, that she has a history of self-promotion or is the ‘Secret Wag’, does not mean that it is more likely than not that the claimant had regularly informed The Sun about the defendant’s private posts," he asked the court.
"What has happened in this case is that the defendant has gone through the claimant’s appearances in the newspapers, put two and two together and made seven," he argued.
Mr Tomlinson said Rooney has also had a relationship with the media herself.
The request to throw out aspects of Rooney's defence was fought by the wife of former footballer's Wayne legal team.
David Sherborne said Vardy's 'exceptionally close relationship" with The Sun newspaper was an important part of the case.
He argued Mrs Vardy had a "habitual practice" of providing private information to the press to promote herself or for financial gain.
Vardy's lawyers said their client was entitled to disclose information about herself and accused Rooney of leaking information to the press herself.
They also wanted to remove the allegation that she was the 'primary source for The Secret Wag' - an 'anonymous gossip column which disclosed private information about high-profile footballers and their partners including about the defendant'.
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our weekly Showbiz newsletter here .
