Rebekah Vardy likely to have to pay most of Wagatha Christie trial's £3m fees

Coleen Rooney claimed an emphatic victory in the Wagatha Christie libel trial today - and her defeated accuser Rebekah Vardy will be saddled with the lion's share of a whopping £3m legal bill.

The saga between the two WAGs started in October 2019 when Coleen, 36, famously revealed said she had carried out a 'sting operation' and accused Rebekah Vardy of leaking 'false stories' about her private life to the press in a viral Instagram post.

Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, denied leaking stories to the media and sued her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Mrs Rooney defended the claim on the basis her post was 'substantially true'.

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

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.”

It is estimated that the legal fees of both sides could top £3m. A hearing in March last year revealed Mrs Vardy had a costs budget for the case of nearly £900,000 while Mrs Rooney’s costs were estimated to be about £400,000.

However, it is believed the case has exceeded those budgets and the legal costs – including