Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy back in court for 'Wagatha Christie' case

Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney are once again in the spotlight at the High Court today as the saga known as the "Wagatha Christie" case continues. Rebekah Vardy, 42, suffered a defeat in her high-profile libel battle against Coleen Rooney, 38, last July when Mrs Justice Steyn found that Rooney's claim of Vardy leaking private stories to the media was largely accurate.

Following the ruling, an order in October dictated that Vardy must cover 90% of Rooney's legal fees. Rooney, married to football legend Wayne Rooney, had amassed over £2 million in costs, with £350,000 incurred before the trial in May.

Vardy, wife of Leicester City's Jamie Vardy, was instructed to pay £800,000 towards these costs in November. Yet, this figure wasn't the final tally for Rooney's expenses, leading to a return to court for a detailed assessment by a specialist costs judge, reports the Liverpool Echo.

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These judges scrutinise the expenses from civil cases to determine the amount to be paid by the losing party, adjusting figures if they find them excessive or unreasonable. At the centre of the dispute is Rooney's October 2019 social media post where she accused Vardy of betraying her trust by leaking personal information after conducting a meticulous "sting operation".

This morning, a costs hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice will see Mrs Vardy contest some of the expenses claimed by Mrs Rooney. Mrs Rooney had publicly accused Mrs Vardy's account of being the source of three stories in The Sun, which contained false details she had posted on her private Instagram profile.

These included her trip to Mexico for a "gender selection" procedure, plans to return to TV, and flooding in her home's basement. Following the high-profile trial, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in favour of Mrs Rooney, stating it was "likely" that Caroline Watt, Mrs Vardy's former agent, had leaked information to the newspaper and that she "knew of and condoned this behaviour".

The judge further noted that Mrs Vardy had "actively" participated, "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".