Gary Lineker has offered a funny solution to the "Wagatha Christie" court case between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy.
Coleen is being sued by Rebekah for libel at the High Court in London. The case was brought to Coleen after she publicly claimed Rebekah leaked her private information to the press in October 2019. Rebekah has always denied the claims.
Coleen claimed she completed an investigation two-and-a-half years ago to find out who was allegedly leaking stories. "It's... Rebekah Vardy's account," she famously tweeted at the time. The incident led to Coleen being labelled "Wagatha Christie" on social media - a reference to the famous crime writer Agatha Christie.
The row between Coleen and Rebekah has intensified since the former's accusation and it's estimated that both sides have splashed out more than £1million on legal fees. The winner of the trial is expected to recover only 70 per cent of their fees from the loser.
If damages are awarded, they are expected to be between £15,000 and £40,000. Rebekah wants to "clear her name" - as her defence said in court on Tuesday.
The bitter court case is expected to last around seven days, yet Match of the Day host Lineker jokingly proposed an idea to settle the feud before. "The Vardy vs Rooney case should be settled by a family penalty shootout," he tweeted. "Cheaper and way more fun."
Coleen is married to Wayne Rooney, the former Manchester United and England captain. He is currently the manager of Derby County. Rebekah is married to Jamie Vardy, the Leicester striker. He played alongside Rooney at international level.
"This is far from being an entertaining case," Rebekah's representative Hugh Tomlinson told the court. "It has been profoundly distressing and disturbing... [Rebekah] needs to be able to clear her name through this case, so she can move on from this terrible episode."
Rebekah, who was seven months pregnant in October 2019, claims she and her family received abuse as a result of the allegations. Coleen, meanwhile, is determined to prove Rebekah was responsible for leaking the stories and be vindicated.
Coleen's representative David Sherborne claimed his client was made to feel "paranoid" over the leaks and found the alleged incident "deeply upsetting". Sherborne added: "She's not here because she wants to be, she's here because she has to be."
Sherborne also said there has been a "widespread and significant destruction or loss of evidence" in the case after the court heard Rebekah's agent Caroline Watt lost her phone in the North Sea. It's claimed the phone was hit by a wave before Coleen's team could see WhatsApp messages that could potentially help her case.
Sherborne insisted the loss of documents "must be concealment" - although Rebekah's team has described that claim as "completely baseless". Watt has been accused by Coleen's barrister as being the source of the alleged leaked stories. Watt has denied this and been deemed too ill to testify in the trial.
