Christie’s war continues: Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy in a battle over legal fees

Flash forward to the summer of 2022, and the headlines are all about Coleen Rooney winning her unforgettable High Court libel battle with fellow Wag Rebekah Vardy.

He called out Vardy for leaking the story to the media and is now armed with a High Court decision saying he was right. In the midst of legal drama, scandals and the intrigue of Wagatha Christie, Vardy’s penchant for leaking information to journalists is painfully obvious, with the Disney + documentary Rooney setting the timeline of events.

At the start of the saga, Rooney’s lawyer said: “Why are we here?” Why really? As a new chapter in the story unfolds, let’s take a look back at some of the most bonkers moments of the Wagatha Christie case.

Coleen Rooney started the fight by going public on social media in October 2019, telling the world that she had been sleuthing to find out who leaked the story from her personal Instagram account to the Sun. The payoff, “It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s Account”, instantly entered pop culture folklore and “Wagatha Christie” was born.

When the lawyer combs through Coleen’s phone, he comes across a meme with her face photographed to the classic Scooby Doo and mocked as Miss Marple. But the mother-of-four insists she is not happy with the global media storm that has ensued. “I just think it’s ridiculous,” she said. “To be honest with you, I hate every minute of it.”

Coleen, wearing a beaded bracelet with her four sons’ names on it, armed with her trusty notebook and Anya Hindmarch’s red pencil during the legal battle, took furious notes as Vardy endured more than three days in the witness box. Vardy had a lot of questions to answer about a series of texts that seemed to suggest he had leaked the story to the Sun, answering with a glare from Coleen who was sitting just a few meters away.

On the third day of the trial, with tension already high, Vardy dodged the question of whether he had contemplated using the anniversary of Rooney’s sister Rosie’s death as a ruse to get acquainted and find information. The atmosphere around the Victorian wood-paneled courtroom became even frostier. Wags battle carefully choreographed entrance and exit from the court to avoid each other, but came face-to-face momentarily on the fourth day. Both of them didn’t look away. No one wants to back down.

Rebekah Vardy is not a defendant in this Wag war, but it is easy to forget because she faced the staged paparazzi photos, the tip-off, the kiss-and-tell of her in 2004 about Peter Andre, and the accusation that she was “hungry for fame.”. This is about “clear my name”, he insisted on the first day, but Vardy faced several claims that he was a mole in the nest of the footballer’s wife and told a string of lies in court.

“If I’m honest…,” Vardy began one answer, allowing Rooney’s lawyer to reply briefly: “I prefer you to be honest because you’re sitting in the witness box under oath.”

Arrested, with his hands clasped in his lap, Vardy repeated: “I know.”

Vardy, dressed in a designer dress different from a £32.99 Zara Rooney dress, cut a quiet figure at the end of his evidence, crying because of online abuse, and had to be tearfully helped away in court by his lawyer and hugged by his legal guardian. team when the ordeal ends.

With the decision delivered, Vardy had to contend with new publicity about the “unthinkable” and unreliable evidence and the conclusion that the libel fight was a gamble gone wrong.

In the unfamiliar surroundings of the Royal Court of Justice, England’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney was in an unusual place as a support act for his wife and largely unable to influence the game. He grimaced when he remembered the problems in the marriage, his “bad behavior”, and the arrest of drink-driving with another woman in the car.

Rooney silently fumed when Vardy’s barrister – trying to make a point about Coleen having no evidence that Vardy is a leaker – made a jibe about the football club he was recently ordered – “What you believe is not evidence,” he said. “You might believe Derby County are going to win the Premier League in two years, but that’s not proof they’re going to do it.”

Continuing through the hours of evidence, idly cracks his knuckles to keep busy and – ever the sportsman – keeps himself hydrated with glass after glass of water, Rooney seems uninterested in the process. But when he finally came off the bench, it was quite the opposite.

“It’s been a long week,” he said when asked about his experience in court, breaking into laughter as he revealed how little he knew about the saga. “This is the first time I have heard anything about this case. I have never discussed it with my wife. This is the first time I really have an understanding of what happened.

Jamie’s wife was absent from most of the trial, but was late to appear in court on the last day of evidence, because Wayne remembered the incident at Euro 2016 when he said that he had to tell Ribka – through Jamie – to “calm down” and stop distracting from football. When Wayne suggested Jamie Vardy was talking to his wife on FaceTime during the tournament he might be in the squad, his eyes widened and a smile of disbelief spread across his face. Jamie, not called as a witness, later told reporters that his former teammate was “talking nonsense” about Euro 2016. Another mystery for Wagatha to solve, perhaps?

In Rooney’s camp for the £3 million court battle is David Sherborne, a “star lawyer” with clients including Johnny Depp, Sir Elton John and Kate Moss. Armed with a folder marked “Vardy lies” and incredulous that Vardy’s agent phone has fallen from the side of the boat into the North Sea, Sherborne determined to make hay. “It’s in Davy Jones’s closet,” he quipped to a bewildered Vardy.

The Oxford-educated lawyer likes to pull up tabloid exposés of yesteryear, reading huge chunks of Vardy’s kiss on poor Peter Andre in which he recalls “chipolata pants equipment”.

This is the trial of the 21st century, Sherborne proudly boasts that junior barrister Ben Hamer has mastered the art of social media and can trust technology. “Yeah, I know, he follows me on Twitter,” Vardy said with disdain, as Hamer’s digital prowess emerged.

On the other side of the aisle is top privacy specialist Hugh Tomlinson QC, another Oxford graduate who boasts Prince Charles, the Beckhams, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs as past clients. Leeds-born Tomlinson is no stranger to media machinations as a board member of lobby group Hacked Off. Charlotte Harris, another Hacked Off veteran and partner in the Kingsley Napley law firm, is Vardy’s constant friend and a shoulder to cry on.

On the second day, we heard that after Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater was caught drink-driving, Vardy and Ms Watt planned to ask reporters for information just as the footballer got out of a police cell. “I want to pay for this,” said Vardy, who suggested that it was only a “temporary” thought while his main concern was the public interest in the story. Later that same day, the focus shifted to footballer Riyad Mahrez’s 2018 bid to force a move away from Leicester, when Vardy’s text with Ms Watt was uncomfortable: “Lads are fuming,” Vardy said. “Just don’t want to come back to me.” When Ms Watt named the reporter and said she could “tell someone else”, Vardy replied: “Yes, do x”.

On the third day, Vardy was unable to provide information in the public interest for his agent advised him to send information from Rooney’s personal Instagram account to journalist Andy Halls. “I don’t think he gave any new information,” Vardy said, while accepting he knew what was going on. “Clearly”, the judge concluded, “Ms Vardy provided information obtained from her personal Instagram Account to Ms Watt, knowing that Ms Watt would provide it to a reporter from The Sun.”

Mr Tomlinson opened the trial with an attack on the media and the public using this case for entertainment. But when the world is at war and the economy is in the toilet, the Supreme Court story of WAGs giving paparazzi photographers at the World Cup 2018 and barristers struggling to distinguish between different emojis can be anything but entertaining. “I don’t know if he’s laughing or crying”, said Vardy when choosing a message for Watt. “Looks like I’m laughing”, said Sherborne, before being corrected by a young Mr Hamer. “Oh! This is crying with laughter.”

When, on the third day of evidence, Vardy admitted that he did not challenge his agent to leak the story to the media, he blamed it on being distracted by Gemma Collins “faceplanting” on Dancing on Ice and did not think about the alleged leak. “Without wanting to make fun of anyone…”, he said, before revealing this golden nugget of comedy. In the exchange between Vardy and Sherborne, it grew increasingly fractious as the clock wore on, leading to a strange dispute about who has more celebrity ratings – him or Ant Middleton from SAS Who Dares Wins: “I will not say I am important”, Vardy humble finished.

Just when everyone thought the dust had settled, a new era of the Wagatha Christie saga began, and this time, it was all about money. The judge’s decision from the original trial was clear: the viral social media post about Vardy that started the whole thing was “true”, Vardy was ordered to pay 90 percent of Rooney’s costs during the trial.

Vardy was set to pay around £800,000 (Rooney’s initial bill exceeded £2 million, with £350,000 collected before the trial began), but Rooney was not done. This is not the final version of her bill, so now the couple find themselves in front of a specialist costs judge to settle it.

The Sun has reported that Rooney has been accused of “grossly inflating” the bill he said, which includes a stay at a five-star Nobel hotel in London (worth £2,000) for one of his lawyers, including food and a mini-bar bill of £225. At the first hearing Vardy will outline his arguments, which also include challenging the “unreasonable” £325,000 Rooney accumulated before the trial.

A source close to Vardy told the Sun: “As far as Becky is concerned, she’s been trying to pick her pockets because she thinks she can get away with it.”

“He underestimated the costs and paid his bills. From expert fees to legal fees, the numbers are ridiculous.

“Becky will not last. She will continue to fight in court until she feels there is a fair result.

Looks like we should grab more popcorn.