Rebekah Vardy tells court she felt ‘bullied and manipulated’ on witness stand in libel trial

‘I wanted to clear my name,’ 40-year-old tells court

Rebekah Vardy arrives at the Royal Courts Of Justice in London on Friday (PA)

Rebekah Vardy has told the High Court she felt “bullied and intimidated” as a witness in the libel trial against fellow footballer’s wife Coleen Rooney.

The 40-year-old finished giving evidence on Friday, four days after she first took the stand in the case which centres around Ms Vardy being accused of leaking information about Ms Rooney’s private life to the press.

Speaking in a wobbling voice at the end of her witness testimony, Ms Vardy said: “I didn’t do anything wrong and I wanted to clear my name, and I wanted it not just for me but for my family and my children.”

Her lawyer, Hugh Tomlinson, asked Ms Vardy: “How have you find the process of answering questions in this court?”

The model, who is married to Premier League footballer Jamie Vardy, replied: “Exhausting, intimidating, I feel like I’ve been builled and manipulated.”

During her four days of evidence, Ms Vardy has broken down in tears on several occasions - including when online abuse she has received was mentioned in court.

As Mr Tomlinson concluded his questioning of her on Friday, Ms Vardy made a series of denials over the allegations that she was linked to leaks from Ms Rooney’s private Instagram account.

She denied personally leaking information to The Sun, denied speaking to or messaging any journalists about any of Ms Rooney’s posts, denied asking her agent Caroline Watt to pass on information and denied deleting messages from her WhatsApp.

The High Court trial centres on an explosive social media post by Ms Rooney in 2019, which detailed an elaborate scheme to work out who was leaking stories from her Instagram to the press and earned her the nickname “Wagatha Christie”. It concluded: “It’s...... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

Ms Vardy denies the allegations and is suing her fellow footballer’s wife for libel.