Tuesday 17 May 2022 06:34 PM Coleen and Wayne Rooney smile as they leave court after Jamie and Rebekah Vardy ... trends now

Coleen and Wayne Rooney were all smiles as they left the High Court today as the bombshell Wagatha Christie libel trial saw Jamie Vardy leave court early, having accused his former teammate of lying.

The Rooneys appeared in good spirits in contrast to the Vardys who had stormed out early from the trial which entered its sixth day this morning. 

Jamie Vardy was pictured leaving court with his wife Rebekah, after he told the court this afternoon that Wayne Rooney was 'talking nonsense' during the £3million showdown.

In a witness statement, former England captain Rooney claimed he was asked by a member of Football Association staff to take Vardy to task over Rebekah's media antics during the Euro 2016 football tournament.

Giving evidence today, Rooney said he was pulled aside by then England manager Roy Hodgson and his assistant Gary Neville and asked to raise the 'awkward' issue with Vardy over concerns that Rebekah was 'causing problems and distractions' for the team in France.

However, Vardy claimed that the conversation with him never happened and sensationally accused Rooney of talking 'nonsense' this afternoon. 

When told that Vardy denied he was asked to get Rebekah to 'calm down', Rooney told the High Court: 'I'm sat here on oath. I 100 per cent spoke to Mr Vardy. If he wants to speak that and relay that back to his wife that's entirely his business.' 

In a statement outside court, the Leicester City player's representatives said: 'Wayne is talking nonsense. He must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky's media work at Euro 2016. There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky.'

Shortly after issuing the statement, Rebekah and Vardy were seen leaving the court early during a short mid-afternoon break. The reason is believed to be because Rebecca was feeling ill - and one of Rebekah's barristers, Sarah Mansouri, apologised to Mrs Justice Steyn for their absence for the rest of the day, saying they meant 'no disrespect'.

It comes as the court heard that messages between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt which have never been found were 'manually deleted'.

In a viral social media post in October 2019, Wayne's wife Coleen Rooney, 36, revealed that she had carried out a 'sting operation' and accused Vardy's wife Rebekah, 40, of leaking 'false stories' about her private life to the press. Rebekah denies leaking stories to the media and is suing Coleen for libel, while Coleen is defending the claim on the basis her post was 'substantially true'.

The High Court has heard Rebekah's claim that Vardy was never given such a message by Rooney - and she even said that she had raised the matter with Rooney during one of her FaceTime conversations with Vardy at Euro 2016.

However, Rooney said he did not recall being next to Vardy when he was having a conversation with Rebekah, in which Rooney is alleged to have denied the conversation took place. And Rooney added that he did not know whether Vardy had told his wife that Hodgson had asked Rooney to speak to Vardy about her.

Rooney said: 'They asked me to, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife and I think we all knew we spoke about it, it was an awkward subject.' 

Rebekah's lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC asked him: 'Ask his wife to calm down - she wasn't dancing on tables?' Rooney said: 'No, I wasn't aware of that. It was a lot of negativity amongst a lot of media coverage which as a group of players and as the manager of England he didn't want that to happen, so he asked would I be able to speak to Jamie and I went and done so.'

Among the issues was the idea Rebekah had 'some kind of column in The Sun', the court heard. Rooney added: 'I think there was a few things at the time with Rebekah which the leaders of the team asked me to speak to Jamie about. I was at the understanding Rebekah had a column in The Sun newspaper and as I state... I obviously had better things on my mind. It was obviously awkward for me.'

Rooney added that there had been negative media coverage, saying: 'I was asked to speak to Mr Vardy by the England manager and I carried out that instruction. It was an awkward situation for me and I'm sure it was an awkward situation for Mr Vardy, but I felt it was in the best interests of the team.'

Among the other key portions of evidence given at the Royal Courts of Justice during today's hearing: 

It comes as Jamie Vardy today made his first appearance at the 'Wagatha Christie' trial as he joined his wife Rebekah to hear former England teammate Rooney give evidence in the £3million libel case against Coleen.

Rooney, 36, spoke at the Royal Courts of Justice one day after his wife Coleen also gave evidence and described messages between Rebekah and her agent about her as 'just evil'.

Coleen, also 36, has accused Rebekah, 40, of leaking 'false stories' about her private life in October 2019 after she said she carried out a months-long 'sting operation' - and the bombshell trial is now in its final few days.

Rebekah denies the allegations and has sued Coleen over the 'untrue and unjustified defamatory attack', with the last of the defence witnesses - including Rooney and his cousin Claire Rooney - giving evidence today.  

Coleen posted 50 stories on her private Instagram account during her sting operation over a two month period between August 15 and October 2, 2019, the court heard today. 

The fake stories are said to have been seen only by Rebekah Vardy's account.

They included two posts in August 2019 claiming firstly that Coleen's mum was looking after her as she was having trouble with her tonsils.

The following day she posted a second message saying: 'My tonsils are gone.'

The hearing was told that Rebekah's 'slow internet connection' may have led to vital data being lost.

She claimed WhatsApp messages she exchanged with Caroline Watt were lost when her computer crashed as she tried to export the data.

The court heard Rebekah explained that when she tried to 'upload the media' contained in the chats: 'My computer totally crashed and my mobile phone turned off as well.'

When she switched them back on the data was gone.

Sara Mansoori QC, for Rebekah, asked Mr Blackband if 'a malfunction' was a possibility for the lost data as opposed to 'manual deletion'.

Mr Blackband said: 'I cannot see how that's possible based on the information I have been provided with the only explanation I can conclude is manual deletion.' 

Mr Blackband said he had been unable to examine the laptop as it was 'no longer available'. He said he had not been given an explanation as to why it was unavailable.

Coleen's loss of WhatsApp messages happened after she changed her phone, the hearing was told. 

In the first five days of the trial, which has seen a tearful Rebekah being subject to a gruelling cross-examination, Leicester City striker Vardy's absence was noted by many observers. In contrast, Coleen's husband Rooney has been ever present, sitting at the front of the court to accompany his wife as she too gave evidence. 

Shortly before proceedings began this morning, Vardy took his seat on the left hand side of the court alongside his wife, while the Rooneys arrived a few minutes later, with neither man acknowledging the other.

Coleen - who wore a black dress - is still wearing a brace on her foot after fracturing it in a fall at home earlier this year.

Today, the court heard that Rebekah referred to Rooney's cousin Claire Rooney as 'Wayne's chavvy sister' in messages to her agent Caroline Watt. Claire, who was said to be 'close' to the couple, told how the pair appeared to suggest that she may be the source of leaks from Coleen's private Instagram account. 

In a written statement, she said she was provided with an extract of Rebekah's WhatsApp messages to Ms Watt in February 2019.

She said: 'In that exchange they appear to be discussing the fact that someone else must also be selling stories on Coleen because a story had appeared in The Sun which they say they weren't responsible for.

'I can see that Caroline Watt suggests 'It's probably someone like Wayne's chavvy sister'. 

'Wayne doesn't have a sister and so I assume that Caroline Watt is referring to me as Wayne's cousin and because I still have the Rooney surname.

'I have never met Caroline Watt in my life nor have I ever spoken to her. I am not aware that Coleen has either. I can confirm that I have never leaked information about Coleen or Wayne, or anyone else for that matter, to the press.'

Claire told the court how she had 800 friends and family on her own private Instagram account. 

Describing the aftermath of Coleen's 'Wagatha Christie' post, she said: 'She put a couple of posts on her Instagram.

'I didn't discuss it with her. I didn't feel the need to ask her any more questions.'

Rooney's manager Paul Stretford also gave evidence today and said Rooney raised the issue of his wife facing leaks of her information in 2017.

He said: 'He mentioned Coleen was extremely upset regarding leaks about her private information and she was in a position where she didn't know who to trust and was extremely upset.'

Mr Stretford said he did not discuss this with Coleen, adding: 'I took Mr Rooney at his word and we took it from there.'

Mr Stretford, who has worked with the star since he was a teenager and helped Coleen design the couple's £30million mansion, said he heard no more about it until Coleen's Wagatha Christie post in 2019. 

In his written statement, Mr Stretford added: 'From memory, I think the leaks were mentioned to me by Wayne at one stage and he said that she was really upset about it and it was playing with her head because she did not know who she could trust.

'I did not speak about it in any more detail. I certainly did not discuss who might be responsible and had no discussions with Coleen about any suspicions that she might have had at the time - Rebekah Vardy's name was certainly never mentioned to me.'

Rebekah's lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC also asked Mr Stretford about a notification he received from The Sun, about a story regarding Coleen Rooney and a 'minor car crash'.

He instructed the Rooney's PR woman Rachel Monk not to give 'any assistance to The Sun in their enquiries', in this case.

Mr Stretford said he 'did not consult' the Rooneys on how to respond.

He said this was because he was already aware of all the information in the incident, which he described as a 'bump' which happened about six weeks prior.

Mr Tomlinson asked why he did not tell Ms Monk to 'tell them the true position'.

Mr Stretford said: 'I didn't wish to assist The Sun in their quest to stand up a story from wherever they got it from at the time.'

The court has heard Coleen's claim that the story was based on a post on her private Instagram account where she showed a photo of the damage, accompanied by the caption: 'RIP Half a Honda'.

The court also heard that Ms Watt was set up to to 'take the blame' for leaking stories from Coleen's Instagram account.

In return Rebekah had agreed she would' look after' her agent and friend 'behind the scenes', it is claimed. 

Mr Stretford told of Ms Watt's alleged sacking in the aftermath of Coleen's Wagatha Christie post.

He told the court that he received a call from PR expert Ian Monk who broke the news of the 'sacking' 'sometime between October 11 and 15, 2019.

In court documents he said: 'Ian told me that he had been informed that a note had been sent round to all news desks that Rebekah Vardy had sacked Caroline Watt as her agent.'

He said any updates or information relating to the matter from then would be coming from Rebekah's solicitors.

He added: 'I recall having a discussion with Ian Monk and it was my understanding that there were rumours circulating at the time that Rebekah Vardy was going to be severing ties with Caroline Watt albeit she would look after Caroline Watt behind the scenes in return for Caroline Watt publicly taking the blame for having leaked Coleen's Instagram stories and posts to The Sun.'