‘Wagatha Christie’: Soccer spouses’ libel battle opens in UK

LONDON (AP) — A demo involving two soccer spouses, 1 of whom publicly known as out the other for allegedly leaking her non-public social media posts to a British tabloid newspaper, opened Tuesday in London.

Rebekah Vardy, 40, sued for libel just after Coleen Rooney, 36, accused her of sharing the Instagram information with The Sunlight newspaper in October 2019.

The movie star courtroom drama has drawn intense desire in Britain simply because both gals are Television set personalities and each are married to famed British footballers — Rooney to previous Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney, Vardy to Leicester Town and England striker Jamie Vardy.

A crowd of photographers flanked both equally females as they arrived at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.

Rooney has said she purposely posted bogus tales on Instagram above a number of months to discover out who was passing her non-public info to the press.

In a social media article that swiftly went viral, she stated she knew Vardy was responsible simply because she had blocked everyone apart from an account belonging to Vardy from observing her Instagram stories.

The courtroom confrontation has been dubbed the “Wagatha Christie” demo, a engage in on the slang time period “WAG” – wives and girlfriends of soccer stars – and the identify of crime writer Agatha Christie – a reference to Rooney’s alleged detective get the job done.

Vardy’s lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, reported his shopper “had no option but to provide this libel action to establish her innocence and vindicate her name.”

Tomlinson mentioned Vardy made “strenuous but unsuccessful attempts” to settle the subject, but Rooney would not get rid of her accusatory put up.

He included that the dispute and subsequent libel case had develop into the subject matter of extreme push protection and a resource of “entertainment” in the media. But it has caused profound distress for Vardy, who was subjected to on the web abuse, he mentioned.

Vardy turned down Rooney’s accusation in court docket Tuesday, indicating “I didn’t give any data to a newspaper” and “I did not leak anything at all to any person.”

Rooney’s attorney, David Sherbourne, alleged there was proof Vardy had discussed leaking other people’s personal facts with her publicist and pal Caroline Watt.

He also accused Vardy and Watt of deliberately destroying proof in the situation, which include Watt’s cell phone, which was shed just after it allegedly fell into the North Sea.

It was “more likely than not that Mrs. Vardy understood and permitted Ms. Watt passing in top secret details about Mrs. Rooney’s personal Instagram account to The Sunlight,” Sherbourne reported.

The trial is envisioned to past 7 times. Rooney and her partner are both predicted to testify later on.