Vardy v Rooney: Vardy 'had no choice' but to bring libel case, court told

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The High Court has been told that Rebekah Vardy had no choice but to bring a libel claim against Coleen Rooney.

Hugh Tomlinson, Mrs. Vardy's lawyer, said she needed to reestablish her innocence and vindicate her reputation.

She is accusing Mrs Rooney of leaking her private information to The Sun.

The case was essentially about betrayal, as Mrs Rooney's barrister David Sherborne said as the trial got under way on Tuesday.

Mrs Rooney is expected to give evidence on Friday, while Mrs Vardy is expected to give evidence on Tuesday or Wednesday. Wayne is due to give evidence next week.

Mrs Rooney posted online that fake stories had been leaked to The Sun, which she claimed could only have been seen by Mrs Vardy.

She said she had conducted an investigation to find out who was behind the leaks.

The wife of Jamie Vardy denied being the source of the leaks.

She posted her defence on social media, saying a number of people had access to her accounts. Mrs Rooney was sued for libel by Mrs Vardy in June 2020.

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If information had been leaked, it was not something that was done with the knowledge or authority of Mrs. Vardy.

He said there was no evidence to show that Mrs Vardy had seen Mrs Rooney's posts.

The fake stories posted by Mrs Rooney included a return to TV, a trip to Mexico for a gender selection procedure, and a basement flooding.

The affair and subsequent libel case have become a source of entertainment in the media.

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This is not an entertaining case. It has been distressing and disturbing.

Mrs Vardy needs to clear her name so she can move on from this terrible episode.

He said that Mrs Rooney and her family were subjected to abuse, including posts saying she should die, as a result of her post.

With pride and reputations at stake on both sides, the onus is on Mrs Rooney to prove that she was the one who leaked the stories.

Mrs Rooney is not here because she wants to be, but because she has to be, according to Mr. Sherborne.

He told the court that Mrs Rooney felt paranoid because of her investigation into the leaks.

In a pre- trial hearing less than two weeks before the trial began, Mrs Rooney's barrister said that Mrs Vardy appeared to accept that her own PR agent was the source of leaked stories.

Image source, Neil Mockford

Mrs Rooney's lawyer compared Mrs Vardy's connection with Ms Watt to hiring a hit man or woman.

He said, "Just because you aren't the person who gets their hands dirty doesn't mean you aren't equally responsible."

He said that Mrs Vardy is responsible for the stories being leaked if she doesn't kill herself.

He said there were many examples of the claimant and Ms Watt conspiring to give private and personal information to the press.

If Mrs Watt was the source of the leaked stories, she did not know anything about it, and she did not authorize her to do so, according to Mr. Tomlinson.

Ms Watt was too ill to testify and denied being the source of the leaks.

There had been widespread and significant destruction or loss of evidence in the case, including the loss of Ms Watt's phone in the North Sea after she said her boat hit a wave.

To lose one significant set of documents may be considered a misfortune, but to lose two and lose 10 is carelessness. He wrote in his submission that it must be concealment.

It had not been suggested that Mrs Vardy was near the North Sea at the time, nor that she knew anything about it.

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The celebrity civil trial is set to run for seven days and will be decided by a judge.

When Wayne injured his foot before the 2006 World Cup, his wife, Mrs Rooney, arrived at court in a surgical boot.

Journalists lined up to enter a packed courtroom for the most intriguing cases.

Mrs Rooney sat at the front right bench while Mrs Vardy sat at the front left bench with her hair in a bun.