Coleen Rooney succeeds in truth defence in Vardy v Rooney

Steyn J finds that Rebekah Vardy leaked posts from private Instagram account

Rebekah Vardy’s libel claim against Coleen Rooney was dismissed today by the High Court, as judgment was handed down following the high-profile trial that took place in May.
Ms Vardy brought the claim over a post published on social media by Ms Rooney that accused Ms Vardy of secretly leaking Ms Rooney’s private posts and stories to The Sun.

Mrs Justice Steyn found that the post was substantially true. Ms Vardy, using her agent Caroline Watt as a conduit, had leaked a number of posts from Ms Rooney’s private Instagram account to The Sun. It was also likely that additional information about Ms Rooney’s private Instagram account was passed to the press by Ms Vardy and Ms Watt. Ms Vardy knew of and condoned the leaks and actively engaged in them.

The Judge found Ms Vardy deliberately deleted her WhatsApp chats with Ms Watt and Ms Watt deliberately dropped her phone in the sea to conceal relevant evidence that would undermine her case. Ms Vardy further made a targeted deletion of WhatsApp messages between October 2019 and June 2020.

Steyn J also noted Ms Vardy’s choice not to call her agent, Ms Watt, to give evidence was striking and found significant parts of Ms Vardy’s evidence was not credible.

A full 5RB case report can be found here.

5RB’s David Sherborne and Ben Hamer, instructed by Brabners, acted for Coleen Rooney.