I’m Rooney has welcomed her win in the “Wagatha Christie” High Court case brought by Rebekah Vardy but added that she “never believed it should have gone to court” and that “it was not a case I ever sought or wanted”.
In a social media post that went viral in October 2019, Ms Rooney, 36, said she had undergone months of “sting surgery” and accused Ms Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press .
The wife of the former English footballer Wayne Rooney publicly claimed that Ms. Vardy’s account was the source behind three stories in The Sun newspaper with false details posted on her private message. Instagram stories.
Ms Vardy, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, denied any stories had been leaked to the media and sued her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Ms Rooney defended the claim on the grounds that her post was “substantially true.” used to be”.
In a long-awaited statement on Friday, Ms Justice Steyn found Mrs Rooney in favor and dismissed the claim against her.
After the verdict, Ms Rooney said she was “satisfied” with the verdict after a week-long trial in May.
She said: “It was not a case I have ever sought or wanted. I would never have believed that in times of hardship it should have gone to court for so many people at such a high cost, when the money could have been much better spent helping others.
“Both before and after my social media posts in October 2019, I made every effort to avoid such a lengthy and public lawsuit.
“All my attempts to do so were beaten back by Mrs. Vardy.”
Ms Rooney added that she had “no alternative” but to defend the claim “to put an end to the repeated leaking of my private data to The Sun”.
She continued: “These leaks of my private Instagram account started in 2017. They continued for almost two years and invaded my privacy and that of my family.
“While I will not tolerate Ms Vardy ill will, today’s judgment makes it clear that I was correct in what I said in my October 2019 posts.”
In her ruling, Ms Justice Steyn said it was “probable” that Ms Vardy’s then-agent Caroline Watt “took the immediate act” to pass the information on to The Sun.
But she added: “The evidence… in my opinion clearly shows that Ms. Vardy was aware of and condoned this behavior, and actively participated in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, her screenshots of sending Ms. Rooney’s messages, highlighting items of potential press interest, and answering additional questions from the press through Ms. Watt.”
During the trial, the two women each gave testimony, as did Mr Rooney, also 36, who played for Everton and Manchester United and for England.
In her 76-page verdict, Ms Justice Steyn said Ms Vardy’s evidence was “clearly inconsistent” with concurrently documented evidence on “many occasions”.
She continued: “When reviewing her evidence, I take into account the level of stress she naturally felt, given the high-profile nature of the trial, the abuse she has suffered since the reveal post was published, and the length of time she sat. on the witness stand.”
The judge added: “Nevertheless, I think it is unfortunately necessary to treat Ms Vardy’s evidence with great caution.”
During the trial, Ms Rooney’s attorney, David Sherborne, argued that Ms Vardy had a “common and established practice” of leaking information about those she knew – through Ms Watt – to The Sun.
He said there were examples in text messages between Ms. Vardy and Ms. Watt of the couple talking about leaking other people’s private information.
Ms Justice Steyn said in her ruling: “In my opinion, the conclusions I have drawn about the extent to which Plaintiff engaged in disclosing information to The Sun that she only had access to as an authorized follower of an Instagram account of which she knew , and Mrs. Rooney repeatedly claimed, was private, suffice to show that the single meaning is essentially true.”
In the first ruling in the case in November 2020, then-Mr Justice Warby found that the viral post had “clearly identified” Ms Vardy as “guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust”.
He also found that a regular reader would perceive the post as claiming that Ms. Vardy had “regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Ms. Rooney’s personal Instagram account by secretly notifying The Sun newspaper of the private messages.” and stories of Mrs. Rooney”.
The fight against libel came after Ms Rooney publicly claimed that an account behind three fake stories in The Sun that she posted to her personal Instagram account belonged to Ms Vardy.
In the fake stories Ms Rooney posted to her Instagram during the sting operation, she talked about her trip to Mexico for a “gender selection” procedure, her plans to return to TV and the basement that flooded her home.
In the post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, she wrote: “I saved all the original stories and took screenshots, which clearly show that only one person viewed them. ‘It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
The total legal costs of the case are believed to be in the region of £3million, the bulk of which will now be borne by Mrs Vardy.