Rebekah Vardy wore a cheeky hat in a selfie posted to Instagramahead of the hearing on Tuesday
(Picture: Rebekah Vardy/Instagram)Rebekah Vardy sent foul-mouthed messages about Coleen Rooney saying she “needs to get over herself” when she was suspected by her fellow WAG of leaking stories to the media, the High Court has heard.
The wives of Wayne Rooney and Jamie Vardy are at loggerheads over Coleen’s October 2019 bombshell accusation that Rebekah’s Instagram account was behind a series of leaked stories.
The row – dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’ – is due to come to a head at an explosive libel trial later this year.
Newly released messages show Vardy was aware that she was suspected of leaks by Rooney in February 2019, and sent a message to her agent Caroline Watt saying: “She thinks it’s me that’s been doing stories on her! Of all the people on her Instagram ffs!”
Ms Watt replied “I know x”, and Vardy then wrote: “That c*** needs to get over herself! X”
Six minutes later, Vardy then said: “Someone on her Instagram regularly sells stories on her though x”.
When Ms Watt replied: “Because she is private she can remove you as a follower and it stops you from seeing her page x”, Vardy wrote: “What a joke! All I’ve ever been is nice to her though! Even when Wayne was being a c*** x”
In August 2019, two months before the bombshell accusation that sparked the legal battle, Vardy wrote again about the leaks, telling her PR: “Bet it’s their PR again has to be x”.
Less than 20 seconds later, she wrote: “I really can’t see anyone being that arsed with selling stories on her”.
The messages were revealed in written arguments to the High Court at the start of a two-day pre-trial hearing.
In her latest Instagram story post, Vardy donned a hat with the slogan “You can’t handle the truth” for a selfie, with the caption: “Love this hat brand. They have some really funny slogans.”
David Sherborne, representing Rooney, is applying for Ms Watt to be joined to the libel action as a party in the case. It is said she had “constant access” to Vardy’s Instagram account.
On the day of the “It’s………. Rebekah Vardy’s account” post, Vardy sent a message to Ms Watt stating: “That’s war.”
Rooney’s lawyers say Vardy had leaked information to The Sun either directly or through Ms Watt “acting on her instruction or with her knowing approval”.
Mr Sherborne said messages after the bombshell “It’s……..Rebekah Vardy’s account” show Ms Watt gave Vardy a “script” for her response to Rooney.
“You will have to say you don’t speak to anyone about her”, the agent told Vardy, advising her client to say a former social media agency had access to the Instagram account.
The barrister said Vardy spoke to Rooney on the phone after the public accusation was made, and messages between the two women show Vardy claiming “various people had access” to her Instagram account.
Vardy told Rooney she should have called her before going public with her accusation, and suggested she could have changed the social media account password if leaks were suspected.
“There is yet more concealment”, said Mr Sherborne. “This is the story that Ms Watts and Mrs Vardy concocted as an excuse, to cover-up that which they were responsible.”
Referring to the messages from Vardy to Rooney, he said it is “just the script Caroline Watt gives her to say.
“The unknown user lie – put together in order to conceal that they were responsible for the leaks.”
In written arguments, Mr Sherborne said: “From the outset, Mrs Vardy has always claimed that neither she nor Ms Watt were involved in the leaking of private information from Mrs Rooney’s Instagram account.
“The recent disclosure has shown that this is emphatically not the case.”
According to Rooney’s written case, messages exchanged between Mrs Vardy and Ms Watt in January 2019 showed the pair discussing a post on Mrs Rooney’s private Instagram where her car had been damaged.
Vardy told Ms Watt she “would love to leak those stories x”.
Mr Sherborne claimed Ms Watt was later responsible for the leak of the story to the newspaper, allegedly with Vardy’s approval.
Days after the story about her car was published in The Sun, Rooney posted a tweet saying it was “sad” someone who followed her was “betraying” her.
In a private WhatsApp conversation, Ms Watt then told Vardy “It wasn’t someone she trusted. It was me”, in a message accompanied by a laughing emoji.
Other messages sent by Vardy, in which she calls Rooney a “c***”, a “nasty b*tch” and “such a d**k”, have been aired in the legal proceedings.
Outlining an argument over further disclosure of messages which is sought by Rooney, Mr Sherborne said a “series of unfortunate events” had befallen Vardy’s side during the legal proceedings so far.
Describing a hunt for an image sent by Vardy to Ms Watt, he said: “Regrettably Ms Watt’s phone was apparently ‘dropped overboard’ into the North Sea shortly after disclosure of her mobile phone was specifically ordered by the court.
“Coincidentally, around the same time, all media files from Mrs Vardy’s WhatsApp conversation with Ms Watt also bizarrely disappeared (and from all backups), whilst apparently in the process of exporting it to her solicitors.”
The court has been told Ms Watt says the boat incident in August 2021 was “an accident”, but that she regularly deletes WhatsApp messaging and exchanges that were being hunted for would already have been wiped.
Vardy says Rooney’s allegations have caused her “huge damage and distress”, and she denies involvement in leaking stories to the media.
Resisting further disclosure requests, her barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC said searches of Instagram and WhatsApp messages had taken place already.
He said the messages that have emerged “provide no evidence that the claimant leaked the three fake posts” which are at the centre of the case.
He added that Rooney “relies upon selective and incomplete WhatsApp exchanges…conveniently ignoring the messages which demonstrate beyond doubt that the claimant was not responsible for leaking the defendant’s private information to The Sun.”
The hearing in front of Mrs Justice Steyn continues.
