Rebekah Vardy’s AGENT is blamed by her for leaking stories about Coleen, court hears
Rebekah Vardy’s AGENT is blamed by her for leaking stories about Coleen, court hears: Rooney’s lawyer tells ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel battle that Vardy’s case has ‘collapsed’ as she ‘accepts’ that ‘close friend’ Caroline Watt was source
Lawyers for Ms Rooney claimed in court document that Ms Vardy’s alleged turnaround had been ‘remarkable’ Ms Vardy, 40, suing Ms Rooney, 35, for libel after being accused of leaking ‘false stories’ about the Rooneys Previously been argued that Ms Watt acted as a ‘conduit’, which she and Ms Vardy both vehemently denied
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Rebekah Vardy has sensationally blamed her agent for leaking stories about Coleen Rooney in a dramatic development to the ‘Wagatha Christie’ libel battle, the High Court heard today.
In a document submitted to the court, Ms Rooney’s legal team claimed that Ms Vardy’s cased had ‘collapsed’ after an ‘abrupt change of position to her pleaded case’ following a second statement made by her in which she alleged that her agent and close friend Caroline Watt leaked stories The Sun.
The document compiled by Ms Rooney’s lawyers David Sherborne and Ben Hamer states: ‘The collapse of Ms Vardy’s case over the last day has been remarkable. As of the evening of 27 April 2022, in an abrupt change of position to her pleaded case since the outset, Mrs Vardy appears now to accept Mrs Rooney’s case: that Caroline Watt, Ms Vardy’s close friend and PR, was the conduit by which stories from the Defendant’s Private Instagram Account were leaked to The Sun through her access via Rebekah Vardy’s account (@beckyvardy).’
It adds: ‘It is only now-over two weeks later and on the eve of trial-that Mrs Vardy has been forced to come clean.’
Rebekah Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt at the National Television Awards at London’s O2 Arena on January 19, 2019
Ms Vardy, 40, is suing Ms Rooney, 35, (pictured) for libel after being accused by her of leaking ‘false stories’ about the Rooneys in October 2019
The document continues: ‘The Claimant (Ms Vardy) has since revealed in her latest witness statement that she knew (on her case) that Ms Watt was likely the source of the leaks on 12 April 2022, the day before the PTR (pre-trial review).
‘On the Defendant’s case, she has always known: the Claimant was complicit in Ms Watt’s activities. Complicit in the sharing of private information with Ms Watt; complicit in it being passed on to The Sun and the press; and complicit in covering up her and Ms Watt’s involvement if it became ‘undeniably obvious.’
It argues that Ms Vardy has ‘condoned, authorised, approved and directed such disclosures by Ms Watt.’
Ms Vardy, 40, is suing Ms Rooney, 35, for libel after being accused by her of leaking ‘false stories’ about the Rooneys in October 2019.
She claimed to have uncovered the culprit following a social media sting operation and publicly named her fellow WAG, while earning the nickname ‘Wagatha Christie.’
Ms Vardy and Ms Rooney watching England play Wales at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens, France, during the 2016 Euros
As their legal battle raged, it was also argued that Ms Watt had acted as a ‘conduit’, which she and Ms Vardy vehemently denied.
Ms Vardy’s legal team have asked Mrs Justice Steyn to impose a reporting restriction order on her new statement so that its full contents cannot be revealed.
In a document submitted to the court, her lawyers argue: ‘There have been important developments that have occurred since the Claimant’s First Witness Statement was filed and served. These are set out in the Claimant’s Second Witness Statement.
‘These developments are very recent. They were completely unexpected and outside the Claimant’s control.
As the Claimant explains in her evidence, it has taken her time to process and consider the new information.’
It adds: ‘As the Second Witness Statements makes clear the Claimant continues to be concerned about Ms Watt’s apparently fragile state of health and it may be that the Court would wish to make orders restricting the publication of the contents of this statement in order to protect Ms Watt’s position.’
The court was also told that Ms Vardy and Ms Watt had both signed legal waivers, which would have allowed three Sun journalists who are due to give evidence at the trial, to name their source for their stories.
But the court documents show that Ms Watt has now removed her waiver, which would have allowed her to be named in court.
Ms Rooney’s lawyers maintained: ‘The Court can safely infer that the reason Ms Watt withdrew such a waiver was because she herself was the conduit by which leaks were transmitted to The Sun and she knew that the journalists would say that if they came to give evidence, despite the terms of the witness summaries served by Mrs Vardy.’
The accusation of a marked change in Ms Vardy’s position emerged as lawyers for both WAGS appeared at the High Court to argue over a number of applications for greater disclosure of evidence and an application by three Sun journalists for them not to appear at the high-profile trial.
The explosive trial is to start on May 9.
Vardy (left, with her husband Jamie) is suing Coleen Rooney (right, with husband Wayne Rooney) for libel
