A courtroom burst into laughter this afternoon over Rebekah Vardy’s response to a question about her agent’s phone falling into the North Sea.
Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, is giving evidence for a third day in her libel trial with Coleen Rooney. Mrs Rooney, married to England star Wayne, accused Mrs Vardy of leaking stories from her private Instagram account in the now-famous ‘Wagatha Christie’ tweet in October 2019.
Mrs Vardy, 40, denies the allegations and is suing Mrs Rooney for defamation. The WAG was being asked by Mrs Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne about an article in The S*n by Simon Boyle that referenced a picture of Wayne and his children on Coleen’s private Instagram.
READ MORE: Rebekah Vardy says 'nasty b****' insult was aimed at Danielle Lloyd not Coleen Rooney
The court previously heard Mrs Vardy’s agent Caroline Watt was unable to supply her messages between herself, Mr Boyle and another reporter Andy Halls. This was because her phone had “fallen into the North Sea during a boat trip”.
Mr Sherborne asked Mrs Vardy: "That article refers explicitly to a post on Mrs Rooney’s Instagram account doesn't it? I put it to you that that came from you through Ms Watt to Mr Boyle. Mrs Vardy said: 'No, absolutely not'."
Making reference to the phone falling overboard, the lawyer continued: “The shame is Mrs Vardy, that Mr Boyle’s Whatsapp messages with Mrs Watt, just as with Mr Halls, are lying at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones’ locker.”
Mrs Vardy responded: “Who is Davy Jones?” As journalists and members of the public chuckled, Mrs Justice Steyn, who is hearing the trial, told Mrs Vardy: “It just means at the bottom of the sea.”
The court heard Mrs Rooney was “very upset” about the article and posted on her private Instagram account, as she said: “The grass strikes again.”
Mrs Vardy then messaged Mrs Rooney describing someone who would leak stories as “d***heads” and said “The S*n of all people”, adding: “Hope you are OK”.
Mr Sherborne said Mrs Vardy was “fishing” when she went on to ask Mrs Rooney: “Have you been through all your followers? No-one with any celeb magazine links? What about being hacked?”
He said: “It’s totally disingenuous isn’t it Mrs Vardy? You know perfectly well you have been responsible through Ms Watt, as we see through a number of these posts, to pass information to The S*n.
"Yet you are passing yourself to her as someone who hates The S*n, coming up with excuses like ‘maybe you have been hacked, maybe someone with celeb links’.”
Mrs Vardy said: “No, I don’t say I hate The S*n.” The trial heard earlier that Mrs Vardy was invited as a "special guest" to the National Television Awards by The S*n and sat in the newspaper's box.
Mrs Rooney's lawyers allege Mrs Vardy must have told Mr Halls about a post on Mrs Rooney's Instagram about getting into a car crash at the event. Asked if Mr Halls was at the event, Mrs Vardy said: "He may have been there but I don't remember seeing him."
Mr Sherborne then showed Mrs Vardy a post from her Instagram after the event, in which she thanked Mr Halls for inviting her in the caption. He said: "You are deliberately trying to distance yourself from the suggestion you and Watt spoke to him that night and told him about the car crash post."
Mrs Vardy replied: "No." The trial continues.
Receive newsletters with the biggest and breaking TV and showbiz news by signing up here
