Judge issues withering assessment of Rebekah Vardy as she loses High Court libel battle against Coleen Rooney

The High Court judge in the sensational 'Wagatha Christie' libel trial has ruled that Rebekah Vardy "knew of and condoned" the decision to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to the press.

Vardy, 40, lost her bitter courtroom battle with 36-year-old Rooney after the verdict was announced at midday today (Friday July 29). The trial, which took place in May, centred around the explosive claims Vardy was leaking stories about Rooney to the press.

Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, was suing Rooney, the wife of England star Wayne, for defamation in a hearing dubbed 'Wagatha Christie' by fans. Rooney uploaded several fake stories to her private Instagram account in a six month sting to find out who was sharing private information to The Sun newspaper.

READ MORE : Rebekah Vardy loses libel trial against Coleen Rooney in bitter 'Wagatha Christie' court battle

She then publicly accused the fellow WAG in the now-infamous Wagatha Christie tweet in October 2019 which ended: “It’s…… Rebekah Vardy’s account." In a judgment published today, Mrs Justice Steyn laid out her reasons for her decision in a 76-page document.

Considering whether Coleen's allegations were true and whether there was a public interest in her making them public, the judge said the following: "I have found that Ms Vardy was party to the disclosure to The Sun of the Marriage, Birthday, Halloween, Pyjamas, Car Crash, Gender Selection, Babysitting and Flooded Basement Posts.

"It is likely that Ms Watt undertook the direct act, in relation to each post, of passing the information to a journalist at The Sun. Nonetheless, the evidence analysed above clearly shows, in my view, that Ms Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it