Rebekah Vardy news – live: Coleen Rooney’s ex-friend cries in dock over online abuse
Wife of Leicester City star continues to give evidence in High Court libel trial
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Rebekah Vardy was in tears in the witness box as she was questioned about the online abuse that she and her family have received.
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne referenced online rape threats against Ms Vardy’s daughter, which prompted the reality start to start crying and wipe away tears from her eyes.
She grabbed a number of tissues and started dabbing at her face but insisted she didn’t need to take a break from her cross-examination.
Vardy has told the court this morning that she directed her agent to look at Coleen Rooney’s private Instagram posts after she was involved in a car crash.
The wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy is continuing to give evidence at the High Court in her libel trial against Ms Rooney, the wife of former England captain Wayne.
The court was told how in a January 2019 exchange, Ms Vardy’s agent, Caroline Watt, asked her: “Am I imagining this or did you say yesterday that Coleen had crashed her Honda?” the court heard.
“She defo has ... Go in the Instagram,” Ms Vardy replied, according to court documents.
Vardy denies that she is prepared to lie under oath
Rebekah Vardy has denied the suggestion she was “prepared to lie under oath”.
The denial came as Mr Sherborne asked her about what he suggested were inconsistencies between her evidence in court and her witness statement, which he said stated conversations she had with her agent about leaking information were “never serious”.
He said: “I put it to you that when you say in that witness statement that these conversations were never serious and Caroline would have understood that, that’s completely untrue isn’t it?”.
“No, it’s not,” she replied.
He continued: “What this shows, Mrs Vardy, is that you are prepared to lie under oath.”
She replied: “No.”
In Ms Vardy’s witness statement, the TV personality said: “I have sometimes been caught up in the heat of the moment during conversations with Caroline where I have talked about ‘leaks’ and payment, but these conversations were never serious, and Caroline would have understood that.
“I have never been paid for private information about anybody apart from myself or my family.”
Addressing this, Mr Sherborne asked Ms Vardy whether she still stood by that evidence, to which she replied: “Yes, apart from the Danny Drinkwater one.”
Mr Sherborne said: “So, there’s an exception.”
The barrister later said: “When you say in that witness statement that those ‘conversations were never serious’, that’s completely untrue, isn’t it?”
He later said: “You are prepared to lie under oath, aren’t you?”Both suggestions were denied by Ms Vardy.
Rebekah Vardy concedes she directed her agent to a Instagram post from Coleen Rooney
Rebekah Vardy conceded in court that she had directed her agent to look at Mrs Rooney’s private Instagram in relation a post she made on a car crash.
In a January 2019 exchange, Ms Watt asked her: “Am I imagining this or did you say yesterday that Coleen had crashed her Honda?” the court heard.
“She defo has ... Go in the Instagram,” Ms Vardy replied, according to court documents.
Mr Sherborne highlighted that on the first day of the trial Ms Vardy had agreed it would have been “wrong” if Ms Watt was looking at people’s private Instagram accounts through the use of Ms Vardy’s account.
He put it to Ms Vardy that, in this instance, she was directing her agent to Ms Rooney’s Instagram.
“Yes, I am,” Ms Vardy said.
Rebekah Vardy and agent discussed leaking Riyad Mahrez training story to press, court told
In case you missed it...
Rebekah Vardy and her agent spoke about whether to leak a story about then-Leicester City star Riyad Mahrez missing a training session, a court has heard.
The lawyer for Coleen Rooney - who is locked in a libel battle with the fellow footballer’s wife - challenged Ms Vardy on messages with Caroline Watt on Wednesday.
“You message Caroline Watt at 11:26 in the morning on the 1 February. You say Mahrez has not turned up to training again. The lads are fuming,” he said.
The High Court was told the agent suggested leaking the information to a sports reporter.
Read the full story here:
Rebekah Vardy and agent discussed leaking Mahrez training story to press, court told
‘The lads are fuming,’ court told she texted agent
Rebekah Vardy called Coleen Rooney a ‘d**k’ when she took down an Instagram post
Rebekah Vardy called Coleen Rooney a “d**k” after she took down an Instagram post, the High Court heard.
Vardy made the comment in an exchange with her agent Caroline Watt.
At 8:18am in the morning, one day in September 2019, Rebekah Vardy messaged Watt about a new Instagram post put up by Coleen Rooney.
She said: “One of Coleen’s kids looks like he’s got no seatbelt on whilst driving.”
Caroline Watt replied: “Yeah he is, but it’s on her private Insta so can’t do anything with it.”
Rebekah Vardy responded: “She’s such a d**k. What about the event planning for a wedding? Video is still on her Instagram.”
Vardy denies that she directed her agent to Coleen Rooney’s Instagram posts in order to leak them to the press.
Trial about to resume
Rebekah Vardy is back in the witness stand to resume her day of testimony at the High Court.
Coleen and Wayne Rooney are sat at the front of the court room.
Rebekah Vardy is again testifying from the witness stand. She is being grilled by Coleen Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne about the beginning of her relationship with her agent.
They are currently going through a number of interviews and articles Rebekah Vardy did with the Mirror and the Sun in 2016.
Rooney’s lawyers trying to establish Vardy’s close links to media
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne is trying to create a picture of Vardy’s regularly collaboration with the media to build her public profile.
He has referenced a number of interviews and articles that Vardy did with the Mirror and the Sun.
He has also questioned Vardy about the Euro 2016 tournament. Sherborne alleged that Vardy moved seats at a Euro 2016 match so that she could be closer to Ms Rooney and, in doing so, build a bigger profile.
Sherborne said: “The reason you wanted to put into your diary piece that you were sat behind Coleen Rooney... that boosts your public profile doesn’t it?
“You are the new Wag, as the article described.
“The reason you were sat behind Mrs Rooney is that you deliberately went and sat there even though they weren’t your seats.”
Vardy said: “That’s not true”.
David Sherborne put it to Ms Vardy that her agent, Ms Watt, approached her “because she thought you were getting unfavourable coverage in the press” and she “offered you a way to get better coverage”.
Ms Vardy said: “She offered me a way to tell me side of the story because there was so much negative press.”
She explained Ms Watt suggested she do some interviews “to get my truth across”.
After agreeing to join FRP, Ms Vardy gave an interview with a Mirror journalist called Simon Boyle, which led to a series of articles.
After a court lunch break, Rebekah Vardy faced questions about first meeting her agent Caroline Watt in 2016, who was working for a PR agency called Front Row Partnership (FRP).
Vardy: Suggestion that she sat behind Coleen Rooney at 2016 Euros to boost publicity is ‘ridiculous'
Rebekah Vardy has branded the suggestion she publicly discussed having sat behind Coleen Rooney at a 2016 Euros match in order to bolster her public image as “ridiculous”, a court has heard.
The High Court heard Mrs Vardy mentioned having sat behind Mrs Rooney in a Sun column.
Questioning her over the seating row, David Sherborne said: “The reason you decided to put into your diary piece that you were sitting behind Coleen Rooney is because that boosts your public profile.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she replied.
He later said: “What you don’t say Mrs Vardy is the reason you were sitting behind Mrs Rooney is that you deliberately went and sat behind them even though they weren’t your seats.”
She responded: “I think that’s nonsense, absolute nonsense.”
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