WAGatha Christie | Coleen Rooney victorious over Rebekah Vardy in football spouses’ court battle

In a legal dispute between two football spouses that captivated Britain, Judge Karen Steyn cleared Coleen Rooney of libeling Rebekah Vardy when she alleged that Vardy had leaked her private social media posts to the tabloid press

In a legal showdown between football spouses that mixed celebrity, social media and amateur sleuthing, a judge has ruled whodunnit.

Judge Karen Steyn on Friday cleared Coleen Rooney of libeling Rebekah Vardy when she alleged that Vardy had leaked her private social media posts to the tabloid press.

The judge said in a written ruling that Rooney's allegation was “substantially true”. Steyn said it was likely that Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had passed private information to The Sun newspaper, and that ”Mrs. Vardy knew of and condoned this behavior."

Vardy sued after Rooney accused her in 2019 of sharing the Instagram content with The Sun.

The case, heard at the High Court in May, was a media sensation. The women are celebrities in their own right, and both are married to famous footballers: Vardy to Leicester City and England striker Jamie Vardy, Rooney to former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney.

Then there was the amateur detective work that led to Rooney’s accusation. Rooney, 36, has said she purposely posted fake stories on Instagram to find out who was passing her private information to the press. Rooney said she had blocked all accounts from seeing her Instagram stories, apart from the one she suspected of being the leaker.

In an October 2019 social media post that instantly went viral, she revealed: “It’s... Rebekah Vardy’s account.”