Rebekah Varidy is accused of conspiring to take paparazzi photographs of WAGs, without their permission. It’s the latest fallout of her Wagatha Court battle with Coleen Roooney.
Bombshell leaked WhatsApp conversations have seen Vardy, 39, and her agent Caroline Watt, accused of working together to leak negative stories about Ms Rooney, 35, to the press as the full scale of the war of the WAGS was revealed for the first time today.
Ms Rooney’s attorneys discovered messages that seem to place the blame on Ms Vardy over a controversial photo of WAGs from England outside a St Petersburg restaurant during the 2018 World Cup. The image was later published in The Sun.
Vardy was pictured on a trip to a restaurant with Gemma Acton and Megan Davison two days prior to England’s matchup against Belgium.
Leaked Whatsapp texts revealed Vardy had messaged her agent, Caroline Watt, in the minutes before the encounter: ‘We may have to walk to the restaurant from hotel now… so might be a good pic of us walking down it’s about 10/15 mins away.’
Vardy messaged Watt two hours later: “On the way down in… He has done two runs… He is doing two runs.
Rebekah (the wife of Jamie ex-England Ace) previously denied being responsible for the photoshopped picture she and other WAGs took at the tournament.
Following a technology error that meant the text weren’t redacted, they were exposed in their entirety. Coleen’s legal staff described this as a classic case of a’smoking pistol’ as it escalates in the High Court legal fight.
In the messages, Rebekah, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, 35, is said to have viciously described Coleen as a ‘nasty b****’ and a ‘c***’, while Ms Watt brands the wife of former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney as ‘trash’ and ‘up her own ar**’.
In another exchange, they discuss their plans for reacting to Coleen’s decision not to follow Ms Vardy Instagram. Her lawyers claim that this was what caused the leaks. Rebekah wrote about their social media battle: “Stupid cow deserves all she gets!” I hope she is sold out now.
Rebekah Vardy launched an offensive tirade against Coleen Roooney. She also texted her friends that the “stupid cow” deserves all she gets. Today, the entire scale of war on the WAGS was exposed for the first-time.
Ms Rooney’s lawyers discovered that Ms Vardy was responsible for the photo (pictured below) of WAGs outside a St Petersburg, Russia restaurant.
Rebekah Vardy (39) and Coleen Rooney (35) are in court over claims that Ms Vardy leaking stories about Ms Rooney to the media.
JANUARY 2019: Ms Vardy texts Miss Watt and is said to have described Coleen as a ‘nasty b****… I’ve taken a big dislike to her! She thinks she’s amazing…Would love to leak those stories’
FEBRUARY 2019, Ms Watt, Ms Vardy realize that Rooney unfollowed their Instagram accounts. In a series of messages, Rebekah, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, 35, is said to have described Coleen as a ‘nasty b****’ and a ‘c***’, while Ms Watt brands the wife of former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney as ‘trash’ and ‘up her own ar**’
OCTOBER 2019: The pair discuss their response to Coleen’s now infamous Wagatha Christie claims. The text messages are said to show Rebekah describing Mrs Rooney as a ‘b***’ and a ‘c***’
Coleen received the unredacted incendiary communications between Ms Vardy & Ms Watt at their Manchester offices at the close of 2021.
Within the exchanges, which began in February 2019, Rebekah twice calls Coleen a ‘c***’ after she realises she was unfollowed on Instagram on February 6.
Mrs Vardy later warns: ‘Not having her bad mouth me to anyone…if she’s doing that my god she will be sorry.’
A month earlier she had texted Miss Watt and is said to have described Coleen as a ‘nasty b****… I’ve taken a big dislike to her! She thinks she’s amazing…Would love to leak those stories.’
Since then, Mrs Vardy’s attorneys have confirmed that she meant to refer to another person in her text messages.
According to some reports, the pair even discussed the possibility of a cover up story in which ‘one’ of the women at the office would be blamed for the leaks if more evidence was presented that clearly pinned Ms Watt or Ms Vardy behind them.
Ms. Watt sent a message to her on February 6, 2019. She wrote: “If she…” [Coleen] does try to say it or that it was me and it’s undeniably obvious what we’ll do is say I left the company I was working for in Jan and one of the girls in the office has my old laptop that had your passwords saved on it so will have been them and now you will have to change everything.’
Both are getting ready to fight for their hard-fought libel case since Coleen insinuated that Rebekah had leaked information in Wagatha Christie’s October 2019 post.
Rooney published a story on her private Instagram that was later printed in The Sun. Ms Rooney informed her followers, “Someone is selling stories to this scum paper.” It’s very sad to see someone I accept to follow betray me. [me]For money, or for maintaining a good relationship with the media.
According to court documents, Ms. Watt said that she had acknowledged her role in the publication of information. Poor Coleen … And it wasn’t someone she trusted. It was actually me.
Both men are reported to have discussed Ms Rooney’s concerns over Ms Vardy’s leaking behavior and she had stopped following her Instagram.
Ms. Watt suggested, allegedly, that if there were any concerns they would say that “one of our girls has my old laptop which had your passwords saved on to it so that it will be them”.
Lawyers for Ms Rooney claim that Ms Watt did not provide the cell phone that was used during the investigation. Ms Rooney stated that Watt dropped the device in the North Sea on family vacation days before she was given an order to return it by a High court judge.
In other messages, Ms Vardy is said to have viciously described Ms Rooney as a ‘c***’ and a ‘nasty bitch’ while revealing she wanted to leak stories about her in a series of heated WhatsApp exchanges with her agent, the High Court heard today.
A second message between the two was also claimed. Ms Vardy said “It is war” following Ms Rooney’s public naming of her as the leaker in October 2019.
Rebekah shared the photo (left) on Instagram just before the hearings began Thursday morning. The caption was a slogan-stylized hat. Caroline Watt is also seen with her at the National Television Awards (right).
According to High Court texts, Ms. Watt had allegedly intended to blame “one of the girls at the office” if Ms Rooney was unable to see it.
It was said that Ms Vardy had declared “It’s War” after Ms Rooney publically named her the source of leaks. The pair discuss Ms Rooney crash her car and Ms Vardy refers back to her tweet (see message right), in which she said that somebody had leaked it from her private Instagram.
Another exchange, the court heard, showed Ms Vardy complaining how Ms Rooney ‘thinks it’s me that’s been doing stories on her’
After Ms Rooney was in an accident and had posted about the incident on Instagram, another exchange took place. Ms Vardy sent Ms Watt a WhatsApp message saying that Ms Vardy is a nasty little bitch x and adding: “Would love for those stories to be leaked.”
Ms Watt responded: “I would like to have done an article on Coleen, but the evidence was deleted x,” with Ms Vardy passing details of the post on to Ms Watt.
The court was told that Ms Watt and Ms Vardy discussed the possibility of leaking the story. Ms Watt wrote to Ms Vardy several days later, saying that she is working with a newspaper journalist to write a story about Coleen’s car crash. However her PR has not responded. He’s told me that I am 100% certain it occurred, but I don’t know the details.
One tweet Ms. Rooney sent in January 2019 complaining that an Instagram follower was publishing stories about her
‘She deffo did,’ Ms Vardy responded.
An article then appeared on January 25, 2019 about Ms Rooney being involved in a car crash, prompting her to take to Twitter where she fumed that ‘someone on my private Instagram…. is selling stories or telling stories about a particular newspaper.
She said, “It’s tragic to think that someone who has accepted to follow my lead is betraying or trying to maintain a romantic relationship with the media.”
The court was told that Ms Vardy sent Ms Watt a WhatsApp message saying, “U seen Coleen’s Twitter.”
Ms Watt replied: ‘Such a victim. Poor Coleen…. She didn’t trust it. It was actually me.
A picture that Ms Rooney had taken in her car and which showed one of her kids not wearing a seatbelt was shared by the women via WhatsApp.
Ms Watt advised her that, because the photo was posted to Ms Rooney’s private Instagram account, she couldn’t change it. Ms. Watt said that she had taken the photo down.
Ms Vardy fumed: ‘She’s such a d*** x.’
A second exchange was recorded by the court and showed Ms Vardy complaining about Ms Rooney’s ‘behavior of telling her stories’.
Ms. Watt answered, “I know that x”,
‘That c*** needs to get over herself! Ms Vardy wrote: “X,” before writing, adding that someone on her Instagram sells her stories regularly though x.
Ms. Watt stated that she could remove you from her follower list and prevent you seeing her page.
“What a joke!” She’s the nicest person I have ever met. Even when Wayne was being a c*** x,’ Ms Vardy said.
David Sherbourne, QC represented Ms Rooney and read transcripts from other messages where Ms Vardy was said to have abused her.
The court was told that one of them was sent to Ms Watt by Ms Vardy following her discovery that Ms Rooney hadn’t followed her. I just saw wow… what a c**t… I’m going to message her.’
After being advised by Ms Watt not to contact Ms Rooney immediately, Ms Vardy replied: ‘That c*** needs to get over herself. This is falling out of material.
The two women discussed, it is said, what could happen if Ms Rooney learns that Ms Watt leaking information about her was true.
Ms. Watt responded, “I don’t believe anyone would.” The [journalist]Never would, I would not tell anyone except The Sun. You would assume she would message you if your agent said that.
Following Ms Rooney’s October 2019 post alleging Ms Vardy was to blame for the leak stories, there has been a message exchange between them. They discuss how to fix the leaks.
Ms. Watt informs Ms Vardy, that if Ms. Vardy tries to claim it was her, she will say that she had left the company. That could be blamed on an employee who has access to her laptop. This was described by Mr Sherbourne in court as the “fake use claim.”
Ms Vardy replied in a note: “Ok!” I don’t think she would have known that, except perhaps [the Sun journalist]It has been leaked.
Another WhatsApp message between Ms Vardy & Ms Watt shows them talking about a Ms Rooney post in April 2019. She hinted she was going to Mexico for gender choice.
Later, it was revealed that she had deliberately created this false posting in her efforts to find out who was responsible for the leaks.
Lawyers for Ms Rooney also request that Ms Watt is added to the claim that Ms Vardy misappropriated her private data.
According to Ms Rooney’s attorneys, only excerpts of Ms Vardy’s communication with Ms Watt were provided. Many of these are highly redacted.
Coleen Rooney, pictured at a pilates lesson yesterday morning, has requested that the court order Mrs Vardy’s long-serving assistant Caroline Watt to disclose their private communications
Former friends: Ms Vardy and Ms Rooney celebrate England’s win against Wales at Stade Bollaert-Delelis in France (2016)
The lawyers for Ms Rooney claim that the sighting of redacted messages is a result of their IT program reading evidence which was sent to them.
They argued, however that the evidence they had so far supports their position. However, all the evidence needs to be presented in order for the case to be resolved fairly.
Lawyers for Ms Rooney claimed that Ms Watt did not provide the cell phone that was used during the investigation. She maintained that the device had been lost in the North Sea on family vacation days before she was given an order to return it by a High court judge.
Ms Vardy also insists that WhatsApp audio and WhatsApp images she exchanged with Ms Watt were “accidentally lost” not only from her smartphone but all her backups, as she attempted to send them her solicitors.
The lawyers for Ms Rooney are also seeking all communications between Ms Vardy, Ms Watt, and other journalists from The Sun. They want full disclosure about any payments they receive by The Sun.
Ms Vardy’s legal team is also demanding that Ms Rooney’s communication with Paul Stretford, the football agent, be made public. They are also requesting information from a variety of people they claim were involved in helping or advising Ms Vardy over the “sting operation.”
According to Ms Rooney’s legal team, the document stated that Mrs Vardy had always maintained that Ms Watt and she were not involved in the leakage of private information via Mrs Rooney’s Instagram account. Recent disclosures have shown this to be a blatant lie.
After Ms Rooney claimed that her husband was a footballer, the feud between them erupted when she posted fake stories on Instagram to the newspaper.
Elle claimed that she had eventually reduced the number of people who were allowed to see them, until Ms Vardy was able to access them. She denied these allegations and began libel actions against Vardy.
A full trial is scheduled for May and is expected to cost both women a combined £1 million in legal fees.
The lawyers for Ms Rooney claim that the sighting of redacted messages is a result of their IT program reading evidence which was sent to them.
Lawyers for Ms Rooney demanded all communications evidence to be given.
The legal team of Ms Rooney discovered messages that challenged Ms Vardy’s earlier claims that Ms Vardy did not conspire to take a photo of Ms Rooney and others outside a St Petersburg restaurant in the 2018 World Cup. The Sun also published the picture.
A message between Ms Vardy, Ms Watt was recorded in court. It showed them co-coordinating the photograph without any other members of the group knowing.
In court papers, Ms Rooney’s legal staff also stated that Full Disclosure of Evidence will prove Ms Vardy’s Secret Wag column. She was also responsible for the leak of sensitive information regarding one prominent England footballer.
These are not their first verbal battles. Ms Vardy, who gave an explosive interview to The Daily Mail in 2019, said that fighting with Ms Rooney was as pointless and futile as having a fight with a chicken.
Moments after Ms Rooney claimed she was responsible for leaks, she also disclosed the contents of their telephone call.
Recalling the conversation, she said: ‘I said to her: ‘Coleen, what on earth have you done?”
“It wasn’t an easy call. My mother said, “I am not pointing fingers.” I replied: “You just killed me in public. I am hated by the whole world!
“I believed she was my friend, but she totally annihilated” “You know what? I really loved you. That makes it even harder.”
When Ms. Rooney asked Ms. Vardy if she had ever argued with her, Ms Vardy responded: “That would be like having a fight with a pigeon.” You can tell it that you are right and it is wrong, but it’s still going to s*** in your hair.’
Continue the hearing