Rebekah Vardy has released a statement saying she is “extremely sad and disappointed” at the judge's decision on her libel claim against Coleen Rooney.
Ms Vardy said in the statement that the judge “got it wrong” and she could not accept the ruling. “I am extremely sad and disappointed at the decision that the judge has reached,” she said.
“It is not the result that I had expected, nor believe was just. I brought this action to vindicate my reputation and am devastated by the judge's finding.
“The judge accepted that publication of Coleen's post was not in the 'public interest' and she also rejected her claim that I was the 'Secret Wag'.
“But as for the rest of her judgement, she got it wrong and this is something I cannot accept.”
Ms Vardy has not yet confirmed whether she will appeal the ruling.
The reality TV star also used her statement to issue a plea to those who have subjected her to abuse to stop, and indicated she does not intend to appeal against the ruling, saying “the case is over”.
She said: “As I explained in my evidence I, my family and even my unborn baby, were subjected to disgusting messages and vile abuse following Coleen's Post and these have continued even during the course of the trial.
“Please can the people who have been abusing me and my family now stop. The case is over.
“I want to thank everyone who has supported me.”
The judge said it was “likely” that Ms Vardy's agent at the time, Caroline Watt, “undertook the direct act” of passing the information to The Sun but Vardy “knew of and condoned this behaviour actively engaging in it.”
Ms Justice Steyn said in her ruling: “In my judgment, the conclusions that I have reached as to the extent to which the claimant engaged in disclosing to The Sun information to which she only had access as a permitted follower of an Instagram account which she knew, and Mrs Rooney repeatedly asserted, was private, suffice to show the single meaning is substantially true.”
Meanwhile, Coleen Rooney welcomed the decision but added that she “never believed it should have gone to court” and that “it was not a case I ever sought or wanted”.
Following the judgment, Ms Rooney said she was “pleased” with the ruling following a week-long trial in May. She said: “I never believed it should have gone to court at such expense in times of hardship for so many people when the money could have been far better spent helping others.
“Both before and after my social media posts in October 2019, I made every effort to avoid the need for such a drawn-out and public court case.
“All my attempts to do so were knocked back by Mrs Vardy.”
Ms Rooney added that she had “no alternative” but to defend the claim “to end the repeated leaking of my private information to The Sun”.
She continued: “These leaks from my private Instagram account began in 2017. They continued for almost two years, intruding on my privacy and that of my family.
“Although I bear Mrs Vardy no ill-will, today's judgment makes clear that I was right in what I said in my posts of October 2019.”
