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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Zoe Tidman

‘I’d be chomping’: Rebekah Vardy sent Coleen Rooney message of sympathy over leaks to The Sun

AFP via Getty Images

Rebekah Vardy messaged Coleen Rooney to express outrage that the latter was having stories leaked to The Sun by an Instagram follower, a court has heard.

The 40-year-old said it was “not on” what was happening to Ms Rooney, the High Court was told on the third day of the libel trial between the two footballers’ wives.

Ms Rooney has accused Ms Vardy of being the source of leaks from her Instagram that ended up in The Sun. She made the allegations in an explosive social media post that detailed a “sting” operation to try and find the source, which earned her the nickname “Wagatha Christie”.

Ms Vardy, the wife of Premier League footballer Jamie Vardie, has denied this and is suing Ms Rooney, who is married to former England captain Wayne Rooney, for libel.

She gave evidence at the high-profile trial on Thursday for the third day in a row.

The High Court heard how Ms Rooney once posted an angry message to her Instagram followers to say one of them had started to leak stories to the press again.

Ms Vardy messaged Ms Rooney to express her anger that one of her followers would betray her in this way, the court was told.

“That’s so bad! And the Sun of all people as well. Have you been through all your followers? No one with any celeb mag links?,” she wrote, according to messages read to the court.

Rebekah Vardy’s libel trial against Coleen Rooney enters its third day (Getty/PA)

Ms Vardy continued: “I would be chomping if that was me! Not on at all.”

Ms Rooney told Ms Vardy that she had “been through all” her followers and that she had “got a few people on it trying to sort” where the leak was coming from.

Ms Vardy suggested: “You don’t think the paper has hacked your account do you?”

The trial has so far seen Ms Vardy quizzed about messages with her agent discussing leaking - or potentially leaking - stories to the press.

The wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy denied to the High Court leaking information to the The Sun was “standard practice”.

Ms Rooney’s lawyer, David Sherborne, also confronted Ms Vardy with a message from her agent, Caroline Watt, in which Ms Watt appeared to admit to being the source of a leak to The Sun.

“It wasn’t someone she trusted,” Ms Watt wrote, referring to a social media post from Ms Rooney lamenting information had apparently been leaked by a friend. “It was me”.

When asked about whether this message proved that Ms Watt was leaking to The Sun, Ms Vardy said: “That seems to be what she is saying.”

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