Wagatha Christie - The Debrief

Can you tell us what the case was about?

Jamie:

In October 2019, Coleen Rooney (wife of former England footballer Wayne Rooney) publicly accused Rebekah Vardy (wife of former England footballer Jamie Vardy) of leaking stories from her private Instagram account to The Sun newspaper. 

Coleen Rooney's social media post explained that to try and find the source of the leaks she had changed her settings on Instagram so that only Rebekah Vardy's account could view her Instagram stories. She had then uploaded fake stories to see whether Rebekah Vardy's account would view them and, after some of those fake stories had been published in The Sun newspaper, Coleen Rooney went public with her infamous accusation that:

it's………Rebekah Vardy's account.

Rebekah Vardy denied responsibility for the leaks and sued Coleen Rooney for defamation, seeking damages and a public apology. 

You were a showbiz journalist at the time, what was the reaction to Coleen Rooney's post in the press?

Rebecca:

I had recently left The Sun newspaper, and I was at another publication in our morning news conference when the post went online - and the newsroom just went wild. 

A celebrity spat is always a frenzy for tabloids, but this made splashes in the top broadsheets like The Times and The Guardian, and the BBC evening news bulletins, because it raised issues over privacy and fame in the social media age. It also brought into question how and where journalists got their stories from, including their relationships with those in the public eye.

I had the fun job of reporting on the case, but what was the most difficult part about working on it?

Jamie:

Getting the evidence we needed to prove at trial that Coleen Rooney's accusation was true was really difficult.

Rebekah Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had access to Rebekah Vardy's Instagram account and was able to view Coleen Rooney's posts and stories, so we knew that any messages involving Rebekah Vardy, Caroline Watt, and the journalists from The Sun were going to be crucial.

We were provided with some of the WhatsApp messages between Rebekah Vardy and Caroline Watt, however, the images or screenshots they had sent to one another were not disclosed, nor were their messages with the journalists at The Sun. Those two categories of missing evidence were going to be vital in a case like this.

Why couldn’t you get those messages and how did you deal with that?

Jamie:

The explanations we were given for the missing evidence included that Caroline Watt's phone had fallen into the North Sea during a boat trip on holiday in Scotland and that Rebekah Vardy's phone had experienced an IT malfunction during the process of sending the images to her solicitor.

We then involved The Sun journalists in the legal proceedings and tried to have the court compel them to disclose their messages with Rebekah Vardy and Caroline Watt, but the journalists resisted, and we were unsuccessful at an interim hearing shortly before trial was due to start. There were even unsuccessful attempts to force the journalists to give evidence at trial and be cross-examined. 

The journalists relied upon legislation that provides for the protection of sources to resist disclosing their messages and giving evidence at trial.¹ However, there was an interesting debate as to how far that protection extends where there might be a risk of the source's identity being compromised, but the documents in question are potentially necessary in the interests of justice. 

Ultimately, we did not have that crucial 'silver bullet' evidence at trial, which meant that our defence to Rebekah Vardy's claim was made up of a series of inferences, almost like a jigsaw puzzle, which we were asking the Judge to piece together and find in our favour.

As a former showbiz journalist, what was your reaction to the attempts to force journalists to reveal their source?

Rebecca:

This is an interesting case because, in theory, it could have easily been resolved at the outset had the journalists involved disclosed their source but, as a matter of principle for the media industry, I think source protection is a vital component of ensuring there is trust in free press and supporting journalism more generally. 

Ultimately, it is important that a source can be reasonably confident that their identity will not be made public when providing information to a journalist.

It was one of the UK's most high-profile cases in recent history, what was the most exciting part about working on it? 

Jamie:

Our defence was a genuine detective story and, like all good detective stories, it had so many ups and downs and twists and turns, which made it so interesting. 

I also found the interplay between the legal proceedings and the court of public opinion really fascinating. It felt like there were two battles going on at the same time which brought an added dynamic and meant there were further considerations to factor in when building and presenting our defence.

Finally, the case also shone a very public light on the underworld of the UK's tabloid press and what goes on behind the curtain in terms of how stories are obtained and published, and the relationship between journalists and celebrities, in a way that has never really been done before.

Do you think this case has changed how the tabloid press get their stories?

Rebecca:

Absolutely, my experience was that people were generally more reluctant to provide stories because they had seen Rebekah Vardy being called out and they did not want that to potentially happen to them. Also, people were more reluctant to put anything in writing because they saw how some of the WhatsApp messages between Rebekah Vardy and Caroline Watt were accessed and made public during the trial. 

Finally, this story would never have happened, say, 20 years ago because social media has changed the landscape. Coleen Rooney's large social media following meant that she was able to take control of her own narrative and now other famous people are following suit by documenting their lives on social media, meaning they do not need that same relationship with journalists. 

So… who won the trial?

Jamie:

The Judge found that, on the balance of probabilities, the accusation in Coleen Rooney's post was substantially true, meaning Rebekah Vardy was unsuccessful in her claim. 

It was accepted that it was likely that Caroline Watt undertook the direct act of passing the Instagram posts and stories to The Sun newspaper, but the Judge held that Rebekah Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour. 

In doing so, the Judge relied upon the messages we managed to obtain between Rebekah Vardy and Caroline Watt, which appeared to show them discussing Coleen Rooney's Instagram posts and giving stories about other celebrities to the press. 

The Judge also found that Rebekah Vardy and Caroline Watt had deliberately deleted evidence and commented that she treated Rebekah Vardy's evidence with considerable caution because she was unwilling to make factual concessions, however implausible her evidence was.

Rebekah Vardy was then ordered to pay 90% of Coleen Rooney's legal costs, in addition to paying for her own legal fees, meaning the total amount spent will inevitably run to several million pounds. 

From a legal perspective, what significance do you think the case will have going forward?

Jamie:

The case has already been used as legal authority in new UK court decisions on two issues. 

Firstly, in support of the principle that the court may draw adverse inferences if a party has deliberately lost relevant evidence.² This emphasises the importance of parties in litigation complying with their obligation to preserve all relevant documentation at the outset of a potential dispute.

Secondly, in support of the protection offered to journalistic sources where there is a risk of the source's identify being compromised.³ However, there are still exceptions to this rule, so it is important for journalists to keep in mind when liaising with a possible source that source protection will not always be a blanket guarantee.

More generally, I think the case has served as a warning to the potential pitfalls of litigation in terms of costs, risk, and negative publicity, with Rebekah Vardy's decision to bring the legal proceedings being described in the press as one of the "all-time great self-inflicted legal defeats". 

Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story is on Disney+ now.