Coleen Rooney’s lawyer has revealed if she’s going to seek compensation, after the Wagatha Christie verdict was announced.
On Friday, Rebekah Vardy lost her libel case against Coleen following a lengthy legal battle, which concluded with a seven-day trial at London’s High Court in May.
Rebekah launched a libel lawsuit against Coleen back in 2020, after she publicly accused her of leaking “false stories” about her private life.
In October 2019, the wife of Wayne Rooney claimed she planted false information on her private Instagram page and blocked everyone from her story – except Rebekah’s account.
The mother-of-four said stories about her basement flooding, returning to TV, and gender selection were only viewed by Rebekah’s account – and the false stories all made it into the press.
Coleen believed this was proof that the fellow WAG allegedly sold stories about her private life, but Rebekah vehemently denied her claims.
Their legal battle concluded with a highly-publicised trial at London’s High Court in May, which saw both WAGs give evidence in court.
Rebekah tried to prove she wasn’t behind the leaks, however, Coleen defended her claim in court on the basis her post was “substantially true”.
The judge overseeing the case, Mrs Justice Steyn, delivered her written ruling on Friday at midday.
In her ruling, obtained by the PA news agency, Mrs Justice Steyn agreed with Coleen’s defence, and said it was “likely” that Rebekah’s then-agent, Caroline Watt, “undertook the direct act” of passing the information to The Sun newspaper.
Her judgement read: “Nonetheless, 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.”
“In my judgment, the conclusions that I have reached as to the extent to which the claimant engaged in disclosing to the Sun information to which she only had access as a permitted follower of an Instagram account which she knew, and Mrs Rooney repeatedly asserted, was private, suffice to show the single meaning is substantially true.”
Coleen’s lawyer Paul Lunt has since confirmed the WAG does not want any compensation or retribution following the verdict, and is just “glad that it’s over”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “Coleen hasn’t wanted this. She didn’t want any of this to happen.”
“She doesn’t want any compensation, retribution, she’s never wanted any of that, she just wanted the intrusion that she was seeing into her private life to stop and that was her sole aim and her sole focus.”
“She has no remaining objective, certainly she doesn’t have any need for compensation or demands or any of that nature. She’s just glad that it’s over and that she can get on with her life.”
He also pointed out that they tried to settle the case before going to trial, but as a defendant Coleen had “very limited choices”.
“You can either defend, or you can capitulate,” he explained. “And Coleen was not for capitulating, but we did make every effort to see if there was some middle ground that could be found and sadly we didn’t manage to succeed on that front.”
On Friday, Rooney welcomed her victory in the case, but said she “never believed it should have gone to court”.
In a statement, the mother-of-four said: “Naturally, I am pleased the judge has found in my favour in her judgement today. It was not a case I ever sought or wanted.”
“Both before and after my social media posts in October 2019, I made constant efforts to avoid the need for such a public and drawn-out court case. But all my efforts to do so were knocked back by Mrs Vardy and her lawyers.”
“This left me with no alternative but to go through with the case to defend myself and to end the repeated leaking of my private information to The Sun.”
“The leaks from my private Instagram account began in 2017. They continued for almost two years, intruding on my privacy and that of my family,” she continued.
“Although I bear Mrs Vardy no ill will, today’s judgement makes clear that I was right in what I said in my Instagram posts.”
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“Finally, I would to thank all of my legal team, my family and friends and everyone who has supported me – including the public – through this difficult and stressful time.”
In her own statement, Rebekah said she was “devastated” over the verdict.
“I am extremely sad and disappointed at the decision that the judge has reached. It is not the result that I had expected, nor believe was just,” the 40-year-old confessed.
“I brought this action to vindicate my reputation and am devastated by the judge’s finding.”
Rebekah added: “As I explained in my evidence I, my family and even my unborn baby, were subjected to disgusting messages and vile abuse following Coleen’s post and these have continued even during the course of the trial.”
“Please can the people who have been abusing me and my family now stop. The case is over. I want to thank everyone who has supported me.”
