The internet exploded in October 2019 when Coleen Rooney accused Rebekah Vardy's Instagram account of selling stories about her.
Mrs Rooney - wife of former Everton FC boyhood hero Wayne - said she had been suspicious for years that someone close to her was sharing stories with The S*n. Mrs Rooney accused Mrs Vardy's Instagram account of leaking stories with The S*n so laid a trap to try and catch the person out.
Mrs Rooney, dubbed ' Wagatha Christie ' after her sleuthing work, claimed Mrs Vardy's account was linked to fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account. Mrs Vardy, married to Leicester City's Jamie, denied the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for libel.
READ MORE: Every explosive revelation from 'Wagatha Christie' High Court hearing
WhatsApp messages between Mrs Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt were revealed as part of the High Court battle in February this year. WhatsApp messages between Mrs Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt were presented to the court, in which the former allegedly referred to Ms Rooney as a “nasty b***” and “a c***”.
Mrs Vardy also told Ms Watt she "would love to leak those stories x". Mrs Rooney's barrister, David Sherborne, said Ms Watt's phone "fell into the sea" shortly after the court ordered it to be searched. He said: "(It was) most unfortunate because it was only a short time after the court ordered that the phone should be specifically searched."
Here are all the messages Mrs Vardy and Ms Watt sent on WhatsApp.
January 22, 2019
Mrs Rooney posted on her private Instagram account that her car had been damaged.
January 23
Mrs Vardy discussed the post with Ms Watt and said "she's a nasty b***h x" and "would love to leak those stories x."
Ms Watt replied: "I would have tried to have done a story on Coleen but the evidence has been deleted x" before Mrs Vardy passes on details of the post.
January 25
Ms Watt told Mrs Vardy that a journalist from The S*n was attempting to write a story on Mrs Rooney crashing her car.
She said she was "100% confident it happened but don't know how".
Mrs Rooney had not crashed her car; it had been damaged when another car crashed into it.
Later that day, an article appeared in The S*n about the car being damaged.
Mrs Rooney posted a screenshot of the article to her Instagram with the caption: "Someone on here is selling stories again to this scum of a paper."
January 27
Mrs Rooney tweeted: "It's sad to think someone who I have accepted to follow me is betraying for either money or to keep a relationship with the press."
Discussing the tweet with Mrs Vardy in a WhatsApp message, Ms Watt said: "Such a victim. Poor Coleen...And it wasn't someone she trusted. It was me"
February 6
Ms Watt and Mrs Vardy discussed that Mrs Rooney has unfollowed her, with Mrs Rooney's lawyers arguing the exchanges show the pair were concerned about being blamed for the leaks.
Ms Watt said: "If she does try to say it or that it was me and it's undeniably obvious what we'll do is say I left the company I was working for in Jan and one of the girls in the office has my old laptop that had your passwords saved on it so it will have been them and now you will have to change everything x."
Mrs Vardy replied: "Ok!"
In exchanges released by Mrs Vardy's lawyers, she told Ms Watt on the same day: "She thinks it's me that's been doing stories on her! Of all the people on her Instagram ffs!"
Mrs Vardy continued: "That c*** needs to get over herself! X ... Someone on her Instagram regularly sells stories on her though".
She later added: "What a joke! All I've ever been is nice to her though! Even when Wayne was being a c*** x."
April 8
Mrs Rooney posted the first of the "sting operation" posts about a so-called gender-selection treatment.
This is discussed between Mrs Vardy and Ms Watt.
August 15
An article is published by The S*n claiming Mrs Rooney travelled to Mexico to look into gender-selection treatment.
August 16
Discussing the leaks, Mrs Vardy told Ms Watt: "Bet it's their PR again has to be x... I really can't see anyone being that arsed with selling stories on her."
September 25
Mrs Rooney makes a private Instagram post about falsely returning to television, in the second "sting" post.
This is followed by an article in The S*n about Mrs Rooney returning to television three days later.
October 2
Mrs Rooney posted false information about her basement being flooded on Instagram, the third "sting operation" post.
October 8
An article in The S*n was published about Mrs Rooney's flooded basement, quoting a "source close to the couple".
October 9
Mrs Rooney publishes a statement on Twitter describing the leaks, concluding "it's.......... Rebekah Vardy's account."
Mrs Vardy said "that's war" to Ms Watt.
Ms Watt said: "You will have to say that you don't speak to anyone about her but that recently your (Instagram) has even been following people you don't follow and she should come to you first and asked you about it."
She added: "Just say you have allowed a company to access it for sponsored posts and a former social media agency that you worked with too."
The libel trial is expected to continue on Tuesday, May 10.
