Wayne and Coleey Rooney have missed the final day of the Wagatha Christie trial to go on a trip with their children, their lawyer has said.
The High Court met on Thursday to hear the closing statements in the libel battle between Ms Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
But while Ms Vardy turned up for the trial, neither Ms Rooney nor her husband - who has watched every other day at the court and took the stand on Tuesday - were present.
David Sherborne, Ms Rooney’s lawer, told the court: “They’ve asked me to pass on their individual apologies.”
He said the couple meant no disrespect to the court.
Mr Sherborne said that the Rooneys had agreed their travel arrangements with their lawyers before the trial was extended by one day.
The lawyer, highlighting the husband and wife had attended the trial throughout so far, added: “They had a long-standing travel arrangement with their four children which was booked in advance by their lawyers.”
Mr Sherborne said this was done on the understanding Thursday was not going to be a day the court was sitting.
The judge, Ms Justice Steyn, said: “I don’t take offence”.
Ms Vardy and Ms Rooney have been battling it out at the High Court for more than a week over a libel claim between the two footballers’ wives.
At the heart of the case is a social media post from Ms Rooney, claiming she had undertaken a “sting” operation to work out who was leaking information from her private Instagram to The Sun. She concluded: “It was ........ Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Ms Vardy denies the allegations and is suing Ms Rooney for libel.
Making his closing argument to the High Court on Thursday, Ms Rooney’s lawyer said his client believed what her social media post said at the time.
“It is what she believes even more so now that we have got to the end of the case,” Mr Sherbourne said. “She finds herself at the end of a seven-day libel trial, and for what?”
Ms Rooney’s lawyer said the “issue of truth” lied at the “centre of this case”.
“The burden lies on us to establish on a balance of probabilities that the post is substantially true,” he said.
The barrister claimed Mrs Rooney’s legal team had proved a “wider” meaning to the initial social media post accusing Ms Vardy’s account of being behind several leaks of fake stories set up by Ms Rooney.
He said this was: “Mrs Vardy has regularly and frequently leaked to The Sun information about a number of people she knows”.
During the course of the trial, Ms Vardy denied it was “standard practice” for her to pass information to The Sun through her agent.
Her barrister is expected to give their closing statement later today.
