Rebekah Vardy has lost the 'Wagatha Christie' High Court libel battle she brought against Coleen Rooney over a viral social media post, after a High Court judge found it was "substantially true".
Fans have been on the edge of their seats to find out the conclusion of the almost three-year saga involving two of the most high profile WAGS from the UK. It comes after Wayne Rooney's wife accused her fellow WAG Vardy of leaking stories to the press in a now infamous Instagram post.
The hand down took place remotely, meaning nothing happened in court. In a much-anticipated ruling on Friday, Mrs Justice Steyn found in Mrs Rooney's favour and dismissed the claim against her.
The judge said it was "likely" that Mrs Vardy's agent at the time, Caroline Watt, "undertook the direct act" of passing the information to The Sun.
But she added: "Nonetheless, the evidence ... clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney's posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt."
The high-profile court case - issued by Vardy - drew to a close in May, after a number of revelations were made.
Rebekah, 40, has always vehemently denied the claims that she had been selling stories about Coleen.
The claims which were made by Coleen on Instagram following months of sleuthing went public while former I'm a Celeb contestant Rebekah was pregnant with her youngest daughter.
The wife of Jamie Vardy then later decided to take Coleen to court after denying she was behind the leaks.
Mrs Rooney used social media to accuse Mrs Vardy of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids.
The mum-of-three said she spent five months attempting to work out who was sharing information about her and her family based on posts she had made on her personal social media page.
After sharing a series of “false” stories and using a process of elimination, Mrs Rooney claims they were viewed by one Instagram account, belonging to Mrs Vardy.
Mrs Vardy, then pregnant with her fifth child, denied the allegations and says various people had access to her Instagram over the years.
She claimed to be “so upset” by Mrs Rooney’s accusation, later adding: “I thought she was my friend but she completely annihilated me.”
The public dispute made headlines around the world, with the hashtag #WagathaChristie trending.
The Rooneys missed the last day of the trial, heading abroad for a pre-planned family holiday.
At the time, their lawyer David Sherborne said the couple have asked him to pass on “individual apologies” and to explain “that they intend no disrespect to the court”.
"They had a long-standing travel arrangement with their four children which was booked in advance by their lawyers," with Mr Sherborne said this was done on the understanding that Thursday was not going to be a day the court was sitting.
The judge, Mrs Justice Steyn, said: “I don’t take offence”.
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