Coleen Rooney had a cup of tea as her eight-day Wagatha Christie trial wrapped up and confidently told friends: “I’ll be vindicated.”
The High Court libel hearing ended on Thursday with Coleen’s lawyer telling the judge Rebekah Vardy was a “highly unreliable witness”.
Rebekah is suing Coleen over an online post that accused her of leaking private stories to the Sun newspaper – which Rebekah denies having done.
A close friend told the Sunday Mirror: “After the trial, Coleen had a cup of tea and packed her bags for holiday, confident she had won.
“She has told friends she will be vindicated and she feels relieved that her truth is out there. This whole saga has been very painful.
“She isn’t counting her chickens as she knows the ultimate decision lies with the judge – but she’s adamant she has told the truth throughout and that justice will prevail.”
Coleen and her husband, former England footballer Wayne, did not attend court on the final day – after the trial over-ran, clashing with a holiday to Dubai with their children.
Her barrister David Sherborne told the court his client was fighting on the basis of truth and public interest.
The court heard last week how messages between Rebekah’s agent Caroline Watt and a Sun journalist had gone missing when Ms Watt’s phone fell into the North Sea.
Ms Watt was not well enough to testify.
Mr Sherborne argued that, given the “hand-in-glove” relationship between Mrs Vardy and Ms Watt, having the trial minus her agent was “like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark”.
The Prince of Denmark – Hamlet himself – is the main character in the Shakespeare tragedy.
The friend also told how mum-of-four Coleen, 36, – who is set to open up about the trial in a Netflix documentary – had tried to stop the issue going to court, fearing for Rebekah’s reputation.
The friend said: “Coleen knew Rebekah’s reputation was going to be ripped apart, she wanted to help her and not let that happen.
“She wanted to sort it before it went to court and she didn’t want to see Rebekah destroyed.
“The Netflix documentary will show that she didn’t want the case in the High Court.”
In his own summing up, Rebekah’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson said his client, 40, had “consistently denied being the source, directly or indirectly”.
Referring to online abuse targeted at her over Coleen’s claim, he said the case was about “the way that she has been treated by thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of people on social media”.
Mr Tomlinson added: “She doesn’t know to this day what happened. She doesn’t know where this information came from.”
