Coleen and Wayne Rooney have been pictured lugging their tower of suitcases into Manchester Airport as they ditch the UK for Dubai. The couple skipped attending court on Thursday (May 19).
It has been a hectic few weeks for Coleen and Wayne, both 36, amid Coleen's libel case. Rebekah Vardy is currently suing Coleen after she accused her of allegedly leaking false stories about her to the tabloids back in 2019. Coleen said she used an Instagram 'sting' to discover Mrs Vardy had been sharing stories with The Sun newspaper.
Mrs Vardy, who is the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer's wife for libel, while Coleen is defending the claim on the basis her post was "substantially true".
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Today (Thursday, May 19) is expected to be the last day of the trial - dubbed 'Wagatha Christie' - and while Mrs Vardy arrived at the court for proceedings this morning, Mr and Mrs Rooney were not in attendance and their barrister told the High Cour their absence is due to a "long-standing travel arrangements."
David Sherborne said the couple had asked him to pass on "individual apologies" and to explain "they intend no disrespect to the court". The barrister emphasised that the couple had attended the trial throughout proceedings so far and added: "They had a long-standing travel agreement with their four children which was booked in advance by their lawyers." Mr Sherborne said the booking was made on the understanding that the court would not be sitting today (Thursday).
It comes as both Coleen and former England and Manchester United footballer Wayne took to the stand in recent days. The pair were pictured arriving at the airport. with Wayne taking care of the hefty suitcases that were piled on top of each other on a trolley, while wife Coleen pulled a further two other cases while walking with her medical boot following a foot injury.
Both appeared casual ready for their flight, with Derby Country manager Wayne wearing a white t-shit and black zip-up jacket under a puffa Gillet, and a pair of black jogging bottoms. Mum-of-four Coleen opted for a black shirt and matching trousers while only able to wear one flip-flop. She kept her hair pulled away from her face, tied into a low ponytail while wearing little to no makeup.
On Tuesday Wayne described the "traumatic" impact of the last two-and-a-half years on his wife Coleen as he gave evidence during the "Wagatha Christie" libel trial. He told the court that the period after his wife’s "reveal" post had been "very traumatic" for her and that he had watched her "really struggle". He said: "For me and my wife, we don’t want to be in this court. I've watched my wife over the last two-and-a-half years really struggle with everything, becoming a different mother, a different wife."
He later described how he was asked by then England manager Roy Hodgson and then assistant manager Gary Neville to speak to Mrs Vardy's husband, Leicester City striker Jamie, to ask his wife to “calm down” during the Euro 2016 tournament. The sportsman said Mrs Vardy had a column in The Sun newspaper at the time.
He said the two footballers had gone into a games room to sit down and speak, with Mr Vardy having a can of Red Bull and Mr Rooney a coffee. However, in a statement issued by Mr Vardy’s representatives outside the hearing, he said: "Wayne is talking nonsense. He must be confused because he never spoke to me about issues concerning Becky’s media work at Euro 2016. There was nothing to speak about, I know this because I discuss everything with Becky."
Today the High Court has heard Mrs Vardy has suffered “public abuse and ridicule on a massive scale” as a result of Coleen's posts about her and is entitled to “substantial damages”. Making his closing arguments on the final day of the trial, Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Mrs Vardy, said she has suffered “very serious harm to her reputation” as a result of the post. He also said that Mrs Rooney has “failed to produce any evidence” that Mrs Vardy had “regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower” of her private Instagram account by passing on information from it to The Sun newspaper.
