Sunday 22 May 2022 08:40 AM Coleen Rooney is 'confident' she will WIN Wagatha Christie libel trial against ... trends now

Coleen Rooney has told friends she is confident she will be 'vindicated' in her high profile legal battle with Rebekah Vardy and that 'justice will prevail'.

The two WAGs have been fighting it out in the High Court after Rebekah claimed Coleen had libeled her when claiming she was leaking personal stories about her to the press. 

The trial, which has captured the attention of the British public, came to an end on Thursday - one day later than expected - with a written judgement from Mrs Justice Steyn, who has presided over the proceedings, expected at a later date.

Despite the expense of the legal battle - it is thought to have cost both parties millions - Coleen is said to be extremely confident she will win, even missing the last day of the case to go on holiday with her husband Wayne and their children.

It is being reported that the mother-of-four told friends that while the trial has been a painful experience, she was glad to the public now know 'the truth'. 

A close friend of Coleen told the Sunday Mirror: 'After the trial, Coleen had a cup of tea and packed her bags for holiday, confident she had won.

'She isn’t counting her chickens as she knows the ultimate decision lies with the judge – but she’s adamant she has told the truth throughout and that justice will prevail.'

In court on Thursday Coleen's barrister, David Sherborne, blasted Rebekah Vardy branding her a 'highly unreliable witness' and accused her of lying to the court in her testimony.

It comes after the second husband of Mrs Vardy spoke out about his ex-wife and challenged parts of her testimony, in particular claims she had been 'forced' into telling the News Of The World about her fling with pop star Peter Andre.

Her tawdry kiss-and-tell story about the incident – in which she described the singer as being 'hung like a small chipolata' – became crucial evidence in the Wagatha Christie libel case that has gripped the High Court.

Now her boss at the time – and the man who would go on to be her second husband – has told of how she sold her story to the now-defunct News Of The World, how she was always in awe of celebrity and how their marriage fell apart with him feeling she was using him as a 'pay cheque'.

In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Steve Clarke is especially keen to challenge Mrs Vardy's courtroom assertion that he was an abusive partner who 'forced' her into doing the interview about Mr Andre.

His account will raise further questions about Mrs Vardy's reputation, which has been shredded by her decision to sue fellow WAG Coleen Rooney for accusing her of leaking stories to the press. In his closing remarks, Mrs Rooney's barrister, David Sherborne said Mrs Vardy was a 'highly unreliable witness' and accused her of lying on oath about the 'serious and deliberate destruction' of incriminating evidence such as WhatsApp chats.

Mrs Vardy's probity was called into question on day one of the case, when Mr Sherborne grilled her about leaking stories and respecting people's privacy – and read out extracts from her 2003 News Of The World interview that included disparaging comments about Mr Andre having 'the smallest trouser equipment I've ever seen'.

In the witness stand, Mrs Vardy said: 'I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret.'

But Mr Clarke claims the decision to tell all to the tabloid was Rebekah's alone after she spotted an appeal in the newspaper for stories about contestants in a forthcoming series of ITV's I'm A Celebrity. 'Becky said to me, 'Oh look, I should tell them about Peter Andre',' he says. 'I asked her why she would want to do that and she replied that it would be a bit of money for her and it would be funny. I told her she should do whatever she wanted to do.'

She made the arrangements to talk to the newspaper, and Mr Clarke says his only involvement was to drive her to a photo studio in South-West London and pick her up afterwards, after agreeing to the journalist's request that he not be present for the interview. 'I was told when we arrived at the studio that it wasn't a good idea for me to be there because it might influence what Becky may or may not say,' he said. 'I was also told it might be a little embarrassing for me, so she said she would call me when she was finished.'

Mr Clarke says his then girlfriend revealed little of the interview, but recalls her saying that she had rebuffed the newspaper's suggestion that she do a topless photoshoot to accompany the article. 'She told me she stayed respectful,' he said, adding that he later drove her to the bank to pay in the cheque the newspaper gave her for the story.

Her fling with Mr Andre at the Burnham Beeches Hotel in Buckinghamshire had taken place two years before the interview – and just after Rebekah secured a £25,000-a-year job with Mr Clarke's firm in Oxfordshire.

'Rebekah was chatty, fun and pretty, but I didn't know much more until everyone started talking about her spending the night with Peter,' he recalls. 'She had told colleagues and it became the talk of the office, Within a week of it happening, everybody knew what had happened. She could not keep it quiet.'

He added that one of the other women in the office knew Peter Andre's agent, so 'they went for dinner with him and then, as the world now knows, she slept with him'.

Mr Clarke began dating his employee in 2001 – while she was separated from her first husband, electrician Mark Godden. They married in 2005 but split a year later – and have remained on acrimonious terms.

Mr Clarke, now 57, has denied any cruelty, saying: 'I was never abusive towards Becky, I was never controlling. She did what she wanted, when she wanted and I never raised a hand to her either. The false claims against me have been upsetting me, my family and friends.'

He added: 'I feel sorry for Peter Andre for what was said about him and now it's time I spoke out.'

However Rebekah's spokesman said of Mr Clarke last night: 'Mrs Vardy is all too aware of the harrowing truth about this individual and no amount of misogynistic victim shaming will change this.'