The Wagatha Christie verdict is finally in. And Rebekah Vardy has lost her libel case against Colleen Rooney. Rebekah could be expected to pay more than £2.5million.
After a week of chaotic testimony, where Gemma Collins and Peter Andre were both (somehow) dragged into the libel dispute, and months of waiting for the outcome we’ve finally found out who emerges victorious from one of the most captivating celebrity courtroom spectacles of the year.
In case you need reminding of what the drama was all about, Rooney suspected Vardy had been leaking information about her private life to the press and launched an investigation. She cleverly created fake stories about her life - her house flooding or going to Mexico for gender selection – and posted them on Instagram to a close friends list that only Vardy was part of… The fake news then appeared in The Sun.
Vardy denied all allegations that she was responsible for the leaks: ‘I’m not being funny but I don’t need the money, what would I gain from selling stories on you?’ she replied before suing Rooney for libel after she tweeted the most iconic uses of ellipses in modern literature: ‘‘It’s………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
In today's ruling, the judge said it was 'likely' Vardy's agent passed the stories on to The Sun. 'The evidence... clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney's posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt,' Mrs Justice Steyn said. She added that Colleen's claim was 'substantially true' as - with Rebekah being on Colleen's close friends list - it was clear the information was private.
However, the judge did say that Rebekah and her family had been subject to horrendous, uncalled for, abuse. 'Nothing of which Mrs Vardy has been accused, nor any of the findings in this judgment, provide any justification or excuse for subjecting her or her family, or any other person involved in this case, to such vitriol,' she added.
But the judge found it 'necessary to treat Mrs Vardy's evidence with very considerable caution'. 'There were many occasions when her evidence was manifestly inconsistent with the contemporaneous documentary evidence, eg. in relation to the World Cup 2018 and the photoshopped pictures, and others where she was evasive,' she said. The judge added: 'Mrs Vardy was generally unwilling to make factual concessions, however implausible her evidence. This inevitably affects my overall view of her credibility, although I have borne in mind that untruthful evidence may be given to mask guilt or to fortify innocence.'
When is the Wagatha Christie verdict announced?
Mrs Justice Steyn announced the verdict on Friday at 12pm. What a start to the weekend. The hearing was held remotely, meaning neither Rooney or Vardy returned to court.
Who won the Wagatha Christie trial?
At the time of the trial, the bookmakers gave lots of predictions on the outcome of the dispute. Irish bookies Paddy Power made Rebekah Vardy odds on to lose. They rated her chances of defeat as short as ½, and a 6/4 to get one over on Coleen.
And turns out the bookies were right. It was a bitter defeat for the loser of the trial as both women have already spent thousands on legal fees. When they last went to court in 2021, the two-day hearing cost Rooney £163,926 and it was reported in November that Rooney’s total bill was around £537,000 while Vardy’s was £838,000. ‘It’s all to play for but at the end of the day no one is a winner, other than the lawyers,’ a source told the Mirror.
Rebekah is set to haemorrhage more cash as she’ll be handed a huge legal libel bill that’s currently estimated to total at £3million. Ouch.