The outcome of the "Wagatha Christie" libel case between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney is expected today with a court judgment to be handed down.
One of the most eagerly anticipated cases in history began when Mrs Rooney, 36, publicly accused Mrs Vardy, 40, of leaking "false stories" about her private life to the media.
In a tweet, the wife of former England captain Wayne Rooney described how she narrowed down the possible culprits to one, ending her post with the now famous cliffhanger: "It's... Rebekah Vardy's account."
Her tweet went viral in October 2019 and she was dubbed "Wagatha Christie" – a portmanteau of the detective novelist Agatha Christie and WAG (wives and girlfriends).
Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, responded on her own Twitter account, denying leaking the stories, and later sued for libel.
With Mrs Rooney defending the claim on the basis her post was "substantially true", the resulting seven-day trial at the Royal Courts of Justice saw both women give evidence, as revelations from the case made daily national headlines.
David Sherborne, Mrs Rooney’s barrister, argued that Mrs Vardy had a "habitual and established practice" of leaking information about those she knew – through her friend and former agent Caroline Watt – to The Sun newspaper.
The first day of the trial ended with him dramatically revealing a News of the World article from 2004, in which Mrs Vardy talked about a claimed sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre. The barrister read the headline to the court, saying: "Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes."
'The story is fishy enough'
Experts were also called to give evidence over issues relating to the data from Mrs Vardy’s and Mrs Rooney’s phones, with Matthew Blackband, a former Scotland Yard detective, saying he believed there was a "high probability" that "manual deletion" explained the loss of messages from Mrs Vardy’s device.
The barrister also discussed the loss of Ms Watt’s mobile phone, which had allegedly been dropped into the North Sea. "This ill-fated trip took place only days after the court had requested her phone to be inspected," he said. "The story, we say, is fishy enough – no pun intended."
Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Mrs Vardy, said Mrs Rooney had "failed to produce any evidence" that Mrs Vardy had "regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower" of her private Instagram account by passing on information from it to The Sun.
Mr Tomlinson said the libel battle was a "very simple case" when "one clears away the conspiracy theories".
Mrs Justice Steyn will publish her ruling at 12pm on Friday.
