Coleen Rooney has won the 'Wagatha Christie' libel case against Rebekah Vardy

Coleen, 36, had publicly claimed that Rebekah was the source behind three fake stories she had posted on her private Instagram page - of which Rebekah was an approved follower - and was dubbed 'Wagatha Christie' for her social media probing, a reference to the term 'WAGS' which is an acronym used to refer to wives and girlfriends of high-profile sportsmen.

In the High Court verdict on Friday (29.07.22), judge Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that it was "likely" that Vardy's then-agent Caroline Watt "undertook the direct act" of passing information on.

The judge said: "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."

Steyn continued: "In my judgment, the conclusions that I have reached as to the extent to which the claimant engaged in disclosing to The Sun information to which she only had access as a permitted follower of an Instagram account which she knew, and Mrs Rooney repeatedly asserted, was private, suffice to show the single meaning is substantially true."