WAGATHA CHRISTIE TRIAL DAY 1 AS IT HAPPENED: Rebekah Vardy accuses Coleen Rooney of 'ruining her pregnancy', says she regrets saying Peter Andre was hung like a 'chipolata' and explains meaning of 'FFS' as foul-mouthed Whatsapp messages read out in court

Rebekah said she would never forgive Coleen for 'ruining the last two months of my pregnancy' with her Wagatha post.

She said in her written statement: 'Finding out about Coleen's campaign to secretly target me was extremely upsetting. It made me feel like someone had been monitoring me and putting me under surveillance without my permission. She was planting stories on a daily basis, sometimes three or four stories in a day.

'The thing that really gets me is the fact she knew I was pregnant and must have realised the impact a public claim of betrayal would have on me.

'I will never forgive Coleen for the way in which she ruined the last two months of my pregnancy and my new born stage with my youngest daughter. I was in such a state of anxiety that I found it really difficult to relax and enjoy what should have been a special time. This is time I will never get back.'

Rebekah Vardy has now also left the court.

Here's what we've heard so far in the blockbuster Wagatha Christie trial - 

- Rebekah Vardy took the stand, denying that she would leak information to the Press and insisting she respected people's privacy;

- Coleen Rooney's barrister David Sherborne asked Rebekah questions about a 2004 interview she gave to the News Of The World newspaper in which she claimed Peter Andre was 'hung like a small chipolata';

- Rebekah said: It is something that I deeply regret... It is not nice to read';

- Jamie Vardy's wife was accused of having the 'means, motive and opportunity' to leak stories about Coleen;

-  Rebekah's barrister says she 'had no choice' but to bring the libel claim against Coleen to 'establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation';

-  Coleen's barrister David Sherborne told court the case hinges on 'betrayal';

- He suggested that if Rebekah's PR agent Caroline Watt was responsible for leaking the stories 'she was doing Rebekah's dirty work like a hitman' - and accused Rebekah of 'lying' for suggesting otherwise;

- Rebekah's barrister has accused Coleen of 'revelling' in the Wagatha Christie publicity.

Read more of MailOnline's coverage here. 

Coleen and Wayne Rooney have left London's High Court today, bringing the first day of the Wagatha Christie libel trial to a close. 

A bemused Rebekah Vardy had to explain in London's High Court today what the acronym 'FFS' stands for.

Coleen's lawyer David Sherborne showed the court a message exchange between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt about someone allegedly posting photoshopped images online which make her look thinner than she is in real life - dubbed 'the photoshop girl exchange'.

In the message, Rebekah asks: 'Can we not leak a story?'

Ms Watt replies: 'Could only do it with pictures', to which Rebekah replies, 'FFS'.

Mr Sherborne then asked for clarification about the acronym FFS: 'What does FFS stand for?'

Rebekah then asked the judge if she could say it in court. When she was given  permission, she said that it means: 'For f*** sake'.

Rebekah - who was seven months pregnant - told how she was on holiday in Dubai on October 9, 2019 when she saw Coleen's post.

She said: 'I felt extremely paranoid and like everyone in the beach club was looking at me. I thought I was going to pass out and Jamie decided we needed to leave straight away.

'Coleen knew that I was pregnant because she had congratulated me by WhatsApp on 27 August 2019.

'It seems that when Coleen sent me that message that she was in the midst of a plan to try to catch me giving stories about her from her Private Instagram Account.'

Rebekah told how she felt the 'whole world was caving in on me' after Coleen posted her bombshell Wagatha Christie 'revelations'.

In her written statement she said: 'I started to get really hot and suffered from strange palpitations.

'Loads of messages started coming through on my mobile phone and I was seeing these messages on Instagram calling me names - 'f***ing rat', 'f***ing b***h', 'who sells their friends out'.

'This abuse has continued. I was in such a heightened state of emotion because I was heavily pregnant and it felt like the whole world was caving in on me.

'I must have been in shock. I remember getting out of the car and I was shaking and thought I was going to be sick.'

Under questioning, Rebekah confirmed that she did not tell Coleen that her agent Caroline Watt had access to her private Instagram account.

David Sherborne asked her: 'You agree with me that if Ms Watt was looking at people's private Instagram accounts through the use of your account that you've given her, that would be wrong, wouldn't it?'

'Yes,' Rebekah replied, later adding: 'I didn't know that's what was happening.'

A comedian has described dubbing Coleen Rooney 'Wagatha Christie' as is his 'finest moment' - despite others claiming to have coined the phrase after he misspelled it.

On October 9, 2019, shortly after Coleen accused Rebekah Vardy's account of leaking information about her, Dan Atkinson, 39, and a father-of-two from Folkestone, Kent, tweeted: 'Coleen Rooney: WAGagtha Christie'.

However, his misspelling saw many overlook him as the creator of the phrase, which quickly dominated social media.

It led to others being credited with coining the term, including film curator Phoebe Roberts, who was living in London at the time.

Read more here. 

Rebekah was asked whether it was 'respectful' of Peter Andre's 'right not to share this information' about their sexual encounter with the newspaper.

She replied: 'I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret... It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me this is mudslinging and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney's team.'

Asked the question again by Mr Sherborne, Rebekah said: 'The circumstances around it were completely different.'

She later said she did not ask Mr Andre for his permission or tell him it was going to happen in advance.

Mr Sherborne asked: 'Did you feel particularly strongly about the size of his manhood that it should be made public?'

Mrs Vardy replied: 'It was something that I was forced to say.'

Coleen Rooney's barrister David Sherborne said he will demonstrate that Rebekah has no respect for people's privacy.

He proceeded to ask the WAG questions about a 2004 interview she gave to the News Of The World newspaper about her claimed sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre.

Mr Sherborne showed what appeared to an A3 print out of the article to Rebekah in the witness box before reading the headline: 'Peter's hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes'.

The barrister read excerpts from the article, in which it was claimed Mr Andre had managed 'just five minutes of sex with Rebekah' and in which she said he had 'the smallest trouser equipment I've ever seen' that was like a 'miniature chipolata'.

Mr Sherborne suggested to Rebekah that the News Of The World was the 'highest circulating newspaper at the time', read by some four million people.

Rebekah has repeatedly denied leaking information to newspapers in the first few minutes of her cross-examination by Coleen's barrister.

David Sherborne said: 'You wouldn't want to be called a leaker, would you?'

Rebekah replied: 'I have been called a leaker and it's not nice.'

The barrister later asked if the WAG respected people's privacy, to which she replied: 'Yes, I do.'

Rebekah told the court: 'I didn't give any information to a newspaper'.

Under questioning from Coleen's lawyer David Sherborne, she agreed with his proposition that it was 'wrong' and 'upsetting' for someone to secretly pass on another person's information that they didn't want shared.

Rebekah later added: 'I didn't leak anything to anyone.'

Here's a quick catch-up on today's Wagatha Christie libel hearing - 

- Rebekah Vardy has been sworn in as a witness in the court room; 

- She was accused of having the 'means, motive and opportunity' to leak stories about WAG Coleen Rooney;

-  Rebekah's barrister says she 'had no choice' but to bring the libel claim against Coleen to 'establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation';

-  Coleen's barrister David Sherborne told court the case hinges on 'betrayal';

- He suggested that if Rebekah's PR agent Caroline Watt was responsible for leaking the stories 'she was doing Rebekah's dirty work like a hitman' - and accused Rebekah of 'lying' for suggesting otherwise;

- Rebekah's barrister has accused Coleen of 'revelling' in the Wagatha Christie publicity.

Read more of MailOnline's coverage here. 

Rebekah took centre stage in the Wagatha Christie trial as she took to the witness box at the High Court.

With her hair tied into a bun, the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy walked across the courtroom and passed within inches of rival Coleen as she was called to give evidence in the case.

She took to the stand and swore on the bible before being quizzed by Coleen's barrister David Sherborne.

David Sherborne told the High Court Rebekah had the means, motive and opportunity to leak stories about Coleen.

He said: 'We submit Mrs Vardy had the means, access to Mrs Rooney's private Instagram account.

'She has the opportunity through her connections to journalists at the Sun and she has the motive to have secretly passed on information from Mrs Rooney's account in the way that we say she did.'

'Mrs Vardy was responsible for the secret passing on of information that is the subject of this claim,' he added.

Harry Maguire's fiancée Fern Hawkins was 'upset and embarrassed' when Rebekah helped stage a paparazzi photo of the England WAGs at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the High Court has heard.

The case has already heard evidence about the 2018 paparazzi photo, with bombshell texts between Rebekah and her former agent Caroline Watt said to reveal Rebekah's key role in setting it up behind her fellow WAGs' backs.

She had previously denied any part in the posed-up photo, which showed the women gathered outside a restaurant.

Read more here. 

David Sherborne claimed that Rebekah was one of the people who 'provided information' to the Secret Wag column in The Sun.

'It is modelled on Mrs Vardy who was largely responsible for providing information,' he told the court.

Coleen 'revelled' in comparisons to Miss Marple and the Scooby-Doo gang, the court heard.

Rebekah's barrister Mr Tomlinson accused Coleen of keeping copies of some of the jokes on her phone.

He said: 'She screenshot Agatha Christie, herself as Miss Marple, and someone had done a sequence from Scooby Doo when they unmasked the masked villain, and she had screenshotted that.'

Mr Tomlinson said Coleen was not acting he public interest but was 'revelling in the attention'.

Mr Sherborne said there had been a 'deliberate deletion of evidence in this case.

Speaking of the destruction of all media files and WhatsApp messages on Rebekah's phone, he said: 'Mrs Vardy's own expert describes this turn of event as 'somewhat surprising'

'Our expert says there can only be one explanation. Mrs Vardy was responsible for deliberately deleting them. One would only delete them if you are guilty or trying to conceal incriminating evidence.'

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Coleen's barrister David Sherborne accused Rebekah of lying after her agent Caroline Watt dropped out of the case because of ill health.

She then changed her position and began pointing the finger towards her former confidante suggesting she may be the source of the leaks.

He said: 'As is always the case with Mrs Vardy, she denies, denies and denies but then when it becomes deniably obvious she lies and she distances herself and she said the stories were leaked without her approval. She said she felt lied to and betrayed.'

Mr Sherborne accused Rebekah of seeking publicity in London's High Court today.

He said Coleen and Rebekah may be WAGs but are different people, saying Wayne Rooney's wife does not have a pro-active PR agent and is 'not so keen to get lots of self-promotion'.

'That was the motive for Mrs Vardy. That does not drive Mrs Rooney,' Mr Sherborne added.

Here's what we've heard at today's Wagatha Christie libel hearing so far - 

- Coleen's barrister David Sherborne said the case rests on 'betrayal' and said the 'only two real suspects' are Rebekah and her PR agent Caroline Watt;

-  If Ms Watt was responsible for leaking the stories 'she was doing Rebekah's dirty work like a hitman', Mr Sherborne claimed;

- Wayne Rooney will give evidence during the libel trial; 

- Rebekah's claim she sat behind Coleen at the 2016 Euros because they were the 'nearest seats available' was 'untrue', according to new witness statement;

- 'Harry Maguire's fiancée Fern Hawkins was 'upset and embarrassed' by Rebekah's WAGs paparazzi photo at 2018 World Cup';

- 'Coleen revelled in being called Wagatha Christie' and Rebekah was 'abused and jeered at after October 2019 post'. 

Read more of MailOnline's coverage here. 

David Sherborne told the court that the trial will hear evidence from Wayne Rooney, the footballer's cousin, Coleen and her brother.

Mr Sherborne explained that the witnesses would say that 'Mrs Rooney doesn't have a proactive PR... unlike Mrs Vardy'.

'And unlike Mrs Vardy again, she is not so keen to get lots of self-promotion or favourable coverage,' he added. 'That was the motive, why Mrs Vardy leaked information to The Sun.'

Mr Sherborne said witnesses will also explain that Coleen 'didn't tell any of them she was making this sting operation'.

Twitter is divided over who really coined the inspired name 'Wagatha Christie'. 

This morning the BBC shared a tweet from Phoebe Roberts who responded to Coleen's original post accusing Rebekah of leaking 'false' stories to The Sun.

At 11.35am on October 9, 2019, Ms Roberts wrote: 'WAGatha Christie'.

However, others have pointed out that Dan Atkinson tweeted the coinage at 11.16am - but mispelled it as 'WAGagtha Christie'.

This morning Mr Atkinson tweeted: 'As the trial begins, a commemoration of my finest moment. Complete with mis-spelling.'

David Sherborne claimed there were 'only two real suspects' over the leaking of Coleen's private information - Rebekah and her agent Ms Watt.

He said there were some 'hopeless, speculative theories' that a hacker was involved, but the barrister dismissed these as 'wild speculation' with no evidence to support them.

Mr Sherborne added: 'It comes back to the two suspects, Caroline Watt and Mrs Vardy herself. We say they were both in it together'.

David Sherborne said there had been a 'series of unfortunate or... improbable events' in the case, and that Coleen remained convinced her assertion in the post complained of was true, which is why she has not apologised.

This included Caroline Watt's 'poor unfortunate phone' falling into the North Sea 'within days' of the court ordering that, even though she was not a party to proceedings, it should be searched for disclosure.

He said some of the abusive posts Rebekah received were 'awful, and not what (Mrs Rooney) intended at all'.

The barrister added: 'But, despite that, Mrs Rooney was right in what she wrote, despite Mrs Vardy's complaint that it wasn't true.'

The Wagatha Christie libel trial heard that the case was 'in essence a detective story'.

Coleen's barrister David Sherborne said while there wasn't a person 'standing over a body with a smoking gun', all the evidence in the case pointed towards Rebekah.

Mr Sherborne said the two suspects in the case were Rebekah and her PR and close confidante Caroline Watt - and 'of course we say they were in it together'.

If Ms Watt had personally leaked the information, he said, 'it's like hiring a hitman or woman'.

'It doesn't mean in legal terms she had to pull the trigger herself. Just because you are not the person who gets your hands dirty, it doesn't mean you are not responsible or equally as responsible,' he went on.

David Sherborne said that when someone in the 'circle' of people given access to information on social media leaks it to a newspaper 'it is deeply upsetting'.

'It makes you paranoid as well, who's doing it?' he added.

'It's an inescapable fact that someone you trust to be invited into that group of people has chosen to secretly pass information to which they have access, without any knowledge or consent to a newspaper.

'It demonstrates a lack of respect for your privacy which is a very important element of this case now'.

Coleen Rooney's barrister David Sherborne said that she was appearing in the courtroom 'not because she wants to, she's here because she has to be'.

'She's been brought here because of something she wrote. She didn't want to have to write it any more than she wants to be here.'

Mr Sherborne said social media could be used 'to share things that you would rather the world didn't know'.

'That was the point of her (Mrs Rooney's) private Instagram account'.

Mr Tomlinson said that it was 'unfair' for Coleen Rooney not to put her allegations to Rebekah Vardy before making the social media post containing them.

Continuing to address the court after a break for lunch, the barrister said: 'In this case no opportunity was given to respond, there was absolutely no urgency to this.

'It was not something which was an immediate news story that would disappear if time was spent on giving an opportunity to respond. 

'Mrs Rooney could have been in touch with Mrs Vardy. She never did.'

Rebekah was accused of abducting Madeleine McCann in a torrent of online abuse she suffered following Coleen's Wagatha Christie 'revelations'.

Her barrister Hugh Tomlinson said she would be seeking 'substantial damages' over the impact the post has had on her life.

Mr Tomlinson referred to Twitter trolls who targeted Rebekah in 2020 after a new unidentified suspect emerged into the disappearance of Maddie in Portugal 13 years earlier.

Harry Maguire's fiancée Fern Hawkins was 'upset and embarrassed' when Rebekah helped stage a paparazzi photo of the England WAGs at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the court heard.

Bombshell texts between Rebekah and Caroline Watt revealed at earlier hearings showed Rebekah's key role in setting up the photo behind her fellow WAGs' backs.

She had previously denied any part in the posed-up photo in St Petersburg.

Today, quoting from the 11th-hour witness statement of Harpreet Robinson, an FA liaison officer, Mr Sherborne told the court that Ms Robinson had said: 'Fern did express her upset to me, that she had taken part and she was embarrassed, was prepared and had not expected to be put in that position by Mrs Vardy.'

Among the key developments at today's Wagatha Christie showdown - 

- Rebekah's barrister says she 'had no choice' but to bring the libel claim against Coleen to 'establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation'; 

- He tells court Rebekah has been 'jeered and heckled at football matches' and 'made the butt of endless jokes' since the allegations emerged; 

- Rebekah was also 'an evil rat face b****' on social media, with posts going on to say she 'should die' and 'her baby should be put in an incinerator', the court heard; 

- Rebekah 'has no knowledge' of incident that saw agent Caroline Watt's phone fall into the North Sea and 'doesn't know' if she was a leaker.

Read more of MailOnline's coverage here. 

A suggestion that Mrs Vardy and her agent were involved in a 'conspiracy' and 'campaign of deletion' in relation to evidence in the case is 'completely baseless', Mr Tomlinson said.

The court has previously heard that Ms Watt lost her phone in the North Sea before further information could be extracted from it.

Mr Tomlinson told the court that it had not been suggested 'that Mrs Vardy was anywhere near the North Sea at the time' nor that she 'knew anything about it'.

He said there was a 'credible, ordinary, boring explanation' behind media files on Mrs Vardy's Whatsapp no longer being available. 

Mr Tomlinson told the court that Whatsapp exchanges between Rebekah and her agent do not demonstrate that she was responsible for leaking stories as alleged by Mrs Rooney.

Commenting on a message in which Rebekah said she would 'love to leak those stories', he said: 'They are not stories about Mrs Rooney.'

'It's accepted that on some occasions the leaking of stories was discussed between Mrs Vardy and Ms Watt,' Mr Tomlinson said.

He added that 'none of those discussions', with one exception, related to any of the stories at the centre of the libel action.

Coleen's barrister David Sherborne argued his client had proved her case despite Rebekah and her agent Ms Watt 'deliberately' destroying evidence.

Mr Sherborne said in written submissions: 'The defendant has shown that, despite the deliberate destruction of evidence by the claimant and Ms Watt, despite obstruction and obfuscation to try to hide relevant documents, and despite the lies of both the claimant and Ms Watt, it is clear, at least on the balance of probabilities, which is all that is necessary, that the leaks arose from the habitual and established practice of the claimant: leaking information about those she knew via Ms Watt to The Sun and others.

'This was a sustained betrayal of the defendant's trust.'

Mr Sherborne added that Coleen had posted a 'warning shot' about her concerns over leaks from her private Instagram account.

Court documents show that Rebekah branded Wayne Rooney a 'c***' and said Coleen should 'get over herself' in a string of foul-mouthed texts.

She told one friend on WhatsApp: 'She thinks it's me that's been doing stories on her! Of all the people on her Instagram ffs!'

Rebekah then told the same friend: 'That c*** needs to get over herself' and added: 'What a joke! All I've ever been is nice to her though! Even when Wayne was being a c***.'

Mr Tomlinson said these were private conversations between two friends and 'show that in private Mrs Vardy often uses strong language', adding: 'What those exchanges show was that Mrs Vardy was sometimes irritated by Mrs Rooney, rightly or wrongly.'

Mr Tomlinson quoted to the court from a Sun Secret Wag column from October 2019, which was supportive of Coleen, to dismiss the idea that Rebekah could have been the author of the column.

There were chuckles in court and a smile from Rebekah when the lawyer behind her read the first line: 'OMG!' and turned to the judge to explain 'which stands for Oh My God, my lady'.

He continued reading from the article: 'HOW could she!!?? Coleen Rooney has created the biggest WAG fallout since Nicola McLean whipped off her 32FF superbra.

'Becky's had a load of flack but most of us think Coleen played a blinder... as long as it actually WAS Becky, otherwise it's a huge own goal. And if Becky's had people she doesn't know about accessing her account she needs to stop them ASAP.'

He added: 'This is supposedly in a column written by Rebekah Vardy, according to Mrs Rooney.'

Coleen had wrongly assumed that Rebekah was like Bridgerton's Lady Whistledown, the court heard. 

The character is a mysterious writer of gossip is the pseudonym of Penelope Featherington in the popular Netflix drama. 

Rebekah's barrister Mr Tomlinson said Coleen was convinced Rebekah was the source of the short lived Secret Wag columnist on The Sun who gave behind the scenes gossip about the Premier League's biggest stars. 

Mr Tomlinson said: 'In the unlikely event that there is a real secret Wag, it isn't Mrs Vardy.'

Mr Tomlinson continued addressing Mrs Justice Steyn by saying there is 'no information' in any of the evidence that demonstrates Rebekah even viewed Coleen's Instagram posts during the 'sting operation'.

He told the court: 'Mrs Vardy does not actually know what happened, she doesn't know how this information got into the press, all she knows is what she did and she knows it wasn't her.'

The barrister said Coleen's case is 'entirely inferential' and that another line of her argument is to say Rebekah has been 'destroying evidence, she has deleted it and she has conspired to conceal all evidence of her wrongdoing'.

He added: 'This is untrue, there is no such campaign of deletion. The reason there is no such evidence against Mrs Vardy is because she didn't do it.'

Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney's blockbuster Wagatha Christie libel trial finally got underway today.

Both WAGs sat 10ft apart on the front row of the courtroom, with Coleen accompanied by former England star Wayne, while Rebekah was without her Leicester City striker husband, Jamie.

Rebekah's barrister, Hugh Tomlinson QC, said his client 'had no choice' but to bring the libel claim against Coleen to 'establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation'.

The WAGS have been at war since October 2019 after Coleen accused Rebekah of leaking 'false stories' about her private life, before claiming that she uncovered the culprit after carrying out a social media 'sting operation'. Rebekah denies the claims and is suing for libel.

Mr Tomlinson said that if Ms Watt was the source of leaked stories 'that's not something that Mrs Vardy knew anything about and it's certainly something that she did not approve of or authorise Ms Watt to do'.

He added that the developments around the agent 'makes no change at all' in Mrs Vardy's pleaded case.

'Her case is and always has been that she did not leak Mrs Rooney's information from her private Instagram to the Sun, whether directly or using the agency of a third party'.

Mr Tomlinson added of Rebekah: 'She's not able to say of her friend, she was the leaker. She doesn't know.'

The court heard from Mr Tomlinson that Rebekah's agent Caroline Watt had recently withdrawn a witness statement from the trial in which she said she had not leaked stories.

Ms Watt also withdrew a waiver that might have allowed Sun journalists to say whether or not she was the source.

Mr Tomlinson told the court that Rebekah had not 'changed her story' after Ms Watt withdrew her statement to the court due to her deteriorating health. 

Mr Tomlinson addressed claims by Coleen's legal team there had been 'a conspiracy of deletion' and Rebekah had 'destroyed all the evidence', saying: 'There is no direct evidence against Mrs Vardy because she did not do it.'

Mr Tomlinson said Coleen had 'revelled in' being dubbed 'Wagatha Christie', and had shared posts which mocked her up as the renowned crime writer Agatha Christie.

He also told the court: 'We say that this careful investigation was flawed from the start because it is obvious .. anybody who knows anything about the operation of social media knows the fact somebody has an account does not necessarily mean that they are the only person who accessed it.'

He said the meaning of the post was that Coleen had made the accusation against Rebekah.

They're usually spotted in glamourous attire on foreign holidays and in swanky night clubs.

But Coleen and Rebekah swapped cocktail dresses and bikinis for a smart business style today as they arrived at London High Court to battle out the 'Wagatha Christie' case.

Coleen, 36, opted for a stylish black suit with a £1,565 Mugler blazer and navy T-shirt, which she paired with a £615 Gucci loafer. 

Rebekah, 40 paired opted for full Duchess style in a trendy midi shirt dress from a from British-Canadian designer Edeline Lee, who marks Kate Middleton among her fans.

Mr Tomlinson told the court that the evidence around Coleen's posting of three 'false' stories on her private Instagram account as part of her effort to identify who was leaking information about her was 'flawed'.

He said a Sun newspaper article about Coleen returning to TV had 'nothing' to do with the 'so-called TV decisions' post that she made.

Mr Tomlinson claimed that 'the idea that Mrs Rooney was going to go back into TV' had been repeated by a number of news outlets 'several times' in 2019.

Coleen's barrister David Sherborne said the case hinged on 'betrayal' – whether it was by Rebekah or her friend and former agent Caroline Watt.

In documents before the court, he said: 'This is a case essentially about betrayal. The central question that the Court needs to decide now seems to be whether it is Coleen Rooney that was betrayed by Rebekah Vardy because she knew Caroline Watt, her PR and close confidante, was leaking Mrs Rooney's private information to The Sun and condoned this (as well as directly leaking information herself).

'Or whether, instead, it is Mrs Vardy that was betrayed by Caroline Watt because she had leaked this information without Mrs Vardy knowing it and had lied to her by denying all along that she had leaked anything.'

Rebekah was dubbed 'an evil rat faced b***h' after being subjected to 'horrific' abuse and threats in the wake of Coleen's post, the court heard.

Opening the case, Rebekah's barrister Mr Tomlinson said Rebekah was seven months pregnant at the time of the post.

One abusive message aimed at Rebekah said 'her baby should be put in an incinerator', the court heard.

Coleen's 'revelations' had been liked 193,000 times on Instagram and 300,000 times on Twitter, Mr Tomlinson said.

Taking to Twitter in October 2019, Coleen accused Rebekah of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids.

She claimed she spent five months attempting to work out who was sharing information about her and her family based on posts she had made on her personal social media page.

After sharing a series of 'false' stories and using a process of elimination, Coleen claims they were viewed by one Instagram account, belonging to Rebekah.

Rebekah, then pregnant with her fifth child, denies the allegations and says various people had access to her Instagram over the years.

Mrs Justice Steyn has allowed Coleen's barrister to introduce a witness statement from Harpreet Robertson, who was family liaison officer for the Football Association during the Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018 international football tournaments.

The judge said: 'Although I accept that there was no order allowing for responsive evidence, nevertheless, it is an important consideration in assessing why the default occurred, that the reason was in circumstances where the defendant had provided all other statements on time.

'This statement had not been provided because it was not, at that stage, intended to give it and only thought necessary to give it on receipt of the claimant's statement.'

Allowing the statement to be used in the case, Mrs Justice Steyn concluded: 'It does not seem to me that it causes any prejudice to admit this statement.'

In an 11th-hour application, Coleen's barrister David Sherborne asked Mrs Justice Steyn for permission to introduce a witness statement from Harpreet Robertson, who was a family liaison officer for the Football Association during the Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018 international football tournaments.

Mr Sherborne said the statement was 'responsive' to evidence in Rebekah's statement that at the Euros in 2016, where she first got to know Coleen, her friends sat behind Coleen because they were the 'nearest seats available'.

The barrister said in court documents: 'In fact, Ms Robinson explains that this is untrue.'

Mr Sherborne told the court Rebekah had introduced this evidence into her witness statement to 'suggest that from the outset she was friendly and respectful to Coleen'.

He added: 'That goes to her motive for leaking information - she, of course, denies that. We say this is a constant theme of her witness statement that she was friendly and kind to Coleen, and was therefore unlikely to leak anything.'

Mr Tomlinson turned to Rebekah's 'candid' WhatsApp exchanges with her former agent Caroline Watt, but said that the foul-mouthed messages in fact support Rebekah's case.

'They establish that Mrs Vardy was not responsible for leaking Mrs Rooney's private information to the Sun.

'The language used is often strong, occasionally hurtful and, from time to time, Mrs Vardy discusses potential leaks about other people. But these messages do not show Mrs Vardy approving, authorising or condoning leaks of information from Mrs Rooney's Private Instagram Account.

'On the contrary, the WhatsApp messages include Mrs Vardy's shocked and strong reaction when she first discovered that Mrs Rooney suspected her of leaking stories'.

Rebekah 'has no personal knowledge' of an incident where her agent's phone fell into the North Sea, the High Court has been told.

The court previously heard that Rebekah's agent and friend Caroline Watt's phone fell into the sea after a boat she was on hit a wave before further information could be extracted from it in August 2021.

Mr Tomlinson said in his written arguments: 'Mrs Vardy has no personal knowledge as to this incident. All she knows is what has been said by Ms Watt.

'It has not been suggested that Mrs Vardy had any involvement with this and it cannot possibly be relied on as evidence of wrongdoing by Mrs Vardy.'

Mr Tomlinson continued in his skeleton argument: 'Mrs Rooney's own evidence about her "sting operation" is extremely telling.

'She appears to have been so concerned about leaks from those close to her that she says that she did not tell even her closest friends and family what she was doing in her "sting operation". 

'It is said that even her husband was kept in the dark.'

Coleen has been forced to wear a medically approved plastic air boot after breaking a bone in her foot.

The wife of Derby County boss Wayne Rooney prompted speculation regarding the nature of her injury after she was spotted hobbling around a local supermarket in Cheshire in March.

Friends have since confirmed that Coleen sustained the injury following an accident at the sprawling new build mansion she shares with Wayne and their four children.

The court heard Rebekah had suffered 'enormous distress and upset' over the allegations. 

Mr Tomlinson continued: 'The fact that the parties are each married to well-known footballers has led to this action being trivialised in some media coverage as "WAG wars". 

'The information alleged to have been leaked was, as Mrs Rooney admitted at the hearing on April 29, 2022, low value gossip. 

'Nevertheless, the impact of the post on Mrs Vardy was far from trivial. It has - as was inevitable given Mrs Rooney's public profile and the sensational nature of the allegation made - been republished in the national media, and on social media on many thousands of occasions, to many millions of readers.'

Rebekah knew Coleen was 'posting fake stories' to see if they would be leaked to the media, her barrister has said.

In written submissions, Rebekah's barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC said: 'She did not directly leak any information from Mrs Rooney's private Instagram account to The Sun, nor did she do so indirectly by 'approving or condoning' anyone else to do so on her behalf.'

He said that the 'candid' WhatsApp messages previously heard in court between Mrs Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt show that while 'from time to time they did discuss 'leaking' information to the press' only one post is mentioned, in circumstances where journalists already knew the information.

Mr Tomlinson continued: 'Furthermore, it is plain from the WhatsApp exchanges that Mrs Vardy was aware that Mrs Rooney was posting fake stories in order to see whether anyone would leak them, as well as the fact that she had previously been a suspect.'

Mr Tomlinson told the court that  Coleen did not have the 'irrefutable' evidence she claimed, and that her 'so-called careful investigation' was 'nothing of the sort'. 

He claimed that despite knowing that Rebekah was heavily pregnant, Coleen gave her no advance evidence of the bombshell post's publication - and 'chose instead to publicly reveal Mrs Vardy as the culprit in a dramatic post crafted in the style of a "whodunnit"'.

'Her reputation has been very seriously damaged by this false and defamatory allegation which was designed to achieve maximum impact and succeeded in its aim,' Mr Tomlinson added.

Rebekah was abused at football matches and her family were subjected to threats following Coleen's 'Wagatha Christie' post, the court has heard.

Rebekah's barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC said the WAG had 'no choice' but to bring the libel action to clear her name.

'As a result of the Post, Mrs Vardy and her family were subjected to abuse and threats. She was jeered and heckled at football matches and was the butt of endless jokes and further accusations,' Mr Tomlinson said. 

'But the allegation in the Post was and remains false: Mrs Vardy had not leaked information about Mrs Rooney or her friends and family to the Sun newspaper from her Private Instagram account.' 

Coleen's barrister David Sherborne is discussing the alleged deletion of messages by Rebekah.

They claim Rebekah deleted a series of messages from her phone - including emails and WhatApp messages - from October 15, 2019 to July 25, 2020, and so are not able to be used as evidence. 

Mr Sherborne told the court it was part of a 'most extraordinary series of misfortunes' surrounding evidence supplied ahead of the case by Rebekah and her legal team.

The claim was made as the barristers dealt with administrative matters at the start of the case. 

Rebekah 'had no choice' but to bring the libel claim against Coleen to 'establish her innocence and vindicate her reputation', the High Court has been told.

In written submissions, her barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC also said: 'The allegation in the post was and remains false: Mrs Vardy had not leaked information about Mrs Rooney or her friends and family to the Sun newspaper from her private Instagram account.

'Mrs Rooney did not have the 'irrefutable' evidence that she claimed to have had: her so-called 'careful investigation' was nothing of the sort.

'If anyone had been leaking information from Mrs Rooney's private Instagram this was not done with Mrs Vardy's knowledge or approval.'

At 10.25am, both women entered court 13 almost simultaneously, and sat about 10ft apart on the front bench of the court, barely giving each other a glance.

Coleen had husband Wayne alongside her, while Rebekah talked to her solicitor Charlotte Harris.

Coleen Rooney, her footballer husband Wayne Rooney, and Rebekah Vardy have all arrived at London's High Court.

Wearing a black suit and with her foot in a brace, Coleen entered the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand by the front entrance, flanked by a crowd of photographers.

Rebekah arrived at court moments later, wearing sunglasses and a long blue-buttoned dress. 

News that Rebekah would be taking Coleen to court wasn’t shared until June 2020, despite the social media post which sparked the case being published in October 2019.

During this time, Rebekah gave birth to her daughter Olivia Grace on December 28, 2019.

In November 2020, Mr Justice Warby ruled in favour of Rebekah proceeding with the case after the libel preliminary hearing at the High Court - and Coleen was ordered to pay Rebekah just under £23,000 in court costs.

Following attempts to mediate the case, plus pre-trial hearings days, the case is now coming to court.

Shortly after the accusation, Rebekah - who was pregnant and on holiday in Dubai at the time - denied any involvement.

Around the same time, she sent a text to Caroline Watt, her then publicist declaring 'That's war', according to evidence put before the court in the subsequent proceedings.

In February 2020, in a tearful appearance on ITV's Loose Women, Rebekah said the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she 'ended up in hospital three times'.

In June 2020, the bombshell emerged that Rebekah had launched libel proceedings against Coleen.

Coleen says she shared false information about her basement being flooded on October 2, 2019, the third 'sting operation' post.

Her lawyers have again alleged to the High Court that the post was only accessible to Rebekah's account.

On October 8, The Sun published a story, with Simon Boyle's byline, headlined: 'IN ROO-INS Wayne and Coleen Rooney's £20million 'Morrisons mansion' flooded during Storm Lorenzo'.

The article, quoting a 'source close to the couple', claimed to reveal that bad weather had 'wreaked havoc' at a Cheshire property, with Coleen being 'called in to find the cellar had been flooded'.

A private 'false' post about planning a return to TV was made on September 25, 2019, Coleen claims.

She says it featured a 'selfie' and the text 'Up and out!! Easing my way back into work!! TV decisions today.... maybe it's time for Australia'.

Coleen's lawyers claimed in her High Court defence that the post was only accessible by Rebekah's account.

Three days later, a Sun article under Michael Hamilton's byline was published under the headline 'ROO-MBA Coleen Rooney in talks to join Strictly next year as she looks to revive TV career when Wayne returns to UK'.

Coleen claims to have posted the first of her 'sting operation' posts about a so-called gender-selection treatment on April 8, 2019.

The invented post - which Coleen claims featured a photograph of the back seat of an airplane overlaid with the text 'Let's go and see what this gender selection is all about' - was allegedly marked on Instagram as 'seen' only by Rebekah's account, Coleen's lawyers have told the High Court.

In August that year, the Sun published an article headlined 'COL'S BABY GIRL BID Coleen Rooney travelled to Mexico to look into £8k 'gender selection' treatment in desperate bid to have baby girl'.

The article, referring to 'a source' and 'pals', alleged Coleen is 'so desperate for her fifth baby to be a girl' that she wants to hear more about a process 'in which doctors examine embryos in a lab before implanting only those of the desired gender back into the womb'.

Three 'false' stories Coleen claims to have planted on her private Instagram account as part of a months-long 'sting operation' are at the heart of her libel battle with Rebekah.

They are:

- The gender selection article

- The TV decisions article

- The flooded basement article 

The explosive £3million 'Wagatha Christie' libel battle between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney gets underway at London's High Court today, marking the culmination of a bitter feud between the high-profile WAGS.

Coleen has been at war with Rebekah since October 2019 after accusing her of leaking 'false stories' about her private life to the media, before claiming that she uncovered the culprit after carrying out a social media 'sting operation'.

The wife of ex-England star Wayne Rooney publicly slammed her fellow footballer's wife for leaking the stories to The Sun, which Rebekah vehemently denied, leading her to launch today's costly libel action.

Both women are expected to give evidence in court, as well as Wayne Rooney himself.

'Wagatha Christie' was the nickname given to Coleen after she accused Rebekah of sharing 'false' stories to the media. 

Hoping to find the Instagram account responsible for sharing these stories, Coleen said she had changed the privacy settings of her posts so it was visible to just one person's account - Rebekah's.

Coleen's apparent sleuthing skills quickly led to her being nicknamed 'Wagatha Christie' - a play on the term WAG for footballers' 'wives and girlfriends' and a nod to crime writer Agatha Christie.

Coleen, the wife of former England star Wayne Rooney, was dubbed 'Wagatha Christie' when she publicly claimed Rebekah shared three fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.

The fake stories included Coleen travelling to Mexico for a 'gender selection' procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.

Coleen 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.'

Rebekah, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Coleen for libel.

Welcome to MailOnline's live coverage of the £3million Wagatha Christie libel trial between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney.

The much-anticipated court clash between the two WAGs is set to begin today - more than two years after Coleen accused Rebekah of leaking 'false stories' about her private life to the Press.

Follow MailOnline's blog for all updates on the blockbuster legal battle.