Lizzie Cundy says Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy are at 'loggerheads'

Lizzie Cundy has said that Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy are at 'loggerheads' amid their Wagatha Christie High Court battle.  

The 'original WAG', 52 - who was previously married to ex-Chelsea footballer Jason Cundy - said she doesn't believe that 'either side will back down'.

She added that other people in the WAG circle have been 'forced to take sides' as tensions escalate.    

She told Closer magazine: 'There's a lot of talk among football players. Wayne and Jamie get constant stick and some people have been forced to take sides.

'Both husbands have had to show support to their wives, but I do know that there'll be conversations like, 'Is there no way this can be worked out?'  

'Both are very strong, determined, and want to fight for the truth. I don't believe either will back down. They're at loggerheads and it seems there's only one way - court.'

She added that in reality what has happened has been the 'worst outcome' because it is 'such a huge waste of money'. 

Lizzie went on to say that being in a pandemic now has 'changed people's way of thinking'.

She said: 'For that reason, I know they have both tried to mediate this, so it didn't go to court but Coleen wouldn't have started this if she didn't feel she was right, but I don't think in her heart she thought it would go this far.'

Lizzie added that there will be 'character assassinations from both sides' and that the one that loses will have their reputation 'tarnished'. 

It comes after yesterday Coleen scored another Wagatha Christie victory as Rebekah has been ordered to pay £10,500 towards her legal fees in their High Court battle.

It's a further blow to the DOI star's long-running £1million libel suit against Coleen, who last week claimed a 2-1 victory in the latest round of their fight after a judge rejected Rebekah's bid to remove substantial parts of Coleen's defense relating to her rival's dealings with The Sun newspaper and its column The Secret Wag.

Judge Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that such dealings could be a relevant part of her defence of libel action brought by Rebekah following the leaking of Coleen's private Instagram posts to The Sun in 2019, which she denies.

Coleen's legal team compared the win to a '2-1 victory in the semi-final' and are increasingly confident going into the next part of the High Court battle in the autumn. 

A source said: 'Coleen's legal team will present further evidence concerning Rebekah Vardy's dealing with The Sun and links with The Secret WAG.

'There are lot of people with knowledge of her long term relationship with the newspaper and how it worked.

'Last week's ruling could open a Pandora's Box for Rebekah.' 

However, Charlotte Harris of law firm Kingsley Napley, representing Rebekah, said: 'The Judge has struck out about 10 pages of material from Mrs Rooney's defence as irrelevant or a waste of court time.

'Mrs Rooney has to re-plead the part of her public interest defence which was said by the Judge to be 'impermissible'.

'This is now Mrs Rooney's third attempt at a putting forward a defence to Mrs Vardy's libel claim. She has been ordered to cover the costs of this exercise and Mrs Vardy's costs of amending her Reply.

'The Judge made three costs orders – two in favour of Mrs Vardy and one in favour of Mrs Rooney for £10,500.

'Although the Judge did not allow the Summary judgement application, she said in her judgement that there was 'some force' in Mrs Vardy's case that there are very significant differences between the TV Decisions Articles and the post on which it is supposed to be based.

'This goes to the heart of the case.

'Mrs Vardy is not the Secret Wag. The Judge has made clear that the identity of the Secret Wag does not go to the core issues and has reserved the ability to cut out or limit this issue in the future.

'Mrs Vardy is completely confident that she will succeed at trial.'

Last week's judgement was a pre-trial procedural decision on which parts of the defence presented by Coleen will be included in the case if it goes to a full libel trial at the High Court, expected to be in September. 

The long-running feud between the high-profile WAGS erupted after Coleen revealed that she had set a trap to see who was responsible for the leaks, which earned her the nickname Wagatha Christie. 

Coleen famously wrote: 'I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It's ................ Rebekah Vardy's account.' 

Soon after, Rebekah took to social media to deny being the person who had leaked the stories to the press, after Coleen's post went viral. 

Rebekah's team launched a bid last month to have large parts of Coleen's defence in the ongoing libel case struck out. 

Rebekah's barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC told Mrs Justice Steyn: 'The purpose of this application is to clear away a mass of irrelevant and peripheral material in order to save time and costs and focus on the main issues in the case.'