Rebekah Vardy WON’T be forced to hand over bank statements to Wagatha High Court battle after Coleen Rooney’s demands
REBEKAH Vardy will not be forced to hand over her bank statements as part of her Wagatha Christie libel battle with Coleen Rooney.
Coleen's lawyers wanted the financial records, including invoices, in a bid to prove their claim that she was behind a series of leaked stories to the Press.
They also wanted to examine any payments made to a company belonging to Rebekah's agent and pal, Caroline Watt, between 2016 and 2019.
But in another significant victory for Rebekah, 39, the High Court ruled the request was "unnecessary, unjustified and disproportionate".
Delivering her judgement, Mrs Justice Steyn said there was "no dispute" Rebekah had received payments for photoshoots and interviews.
She went on: "There is no pleaded case that such payments were over the odds because they incorporated an additional fee in respect of disclosure of the defendant’s or any other person’s private information.
"In my view, such payments do not fall within the standard disclosure test and an order for specific disclosure would not be necessary or proportionate."
The latest development comes after Coleen, 35, wife of England and Manchester United legend Wayne, 36, lost the latest round of their bitter libel battle which kicked-off in October 2019.
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Mum-of-four Coleen wanted to add Miss Watt to the bitter lawsuit for misuse of her private information.
Her application to London's High Court followed the release of text messages between the pair branding Coleen a "c***" and a "nasty b****".
It was claimed they also discussed a potential "cover-up" if it ever became "undeniably obvious" they were behind leaks to the Press.
The bombshell WhatsApp conversations were described in court by Coleen's lawyers as "a classic smoking gun".
But Mrs Justice Steyn dismissed Coleen's application and ordered her to pay £65,000 towards Miss Watt's legal fees - describing it as a "reasonable and proportionate sum".
TOO LATE
She also scolded Coleen's lawyers for submitting it at the eleventh-hour.
In a stinging rebuke she said: "In my judgement, this application has been brought too late.
"The effect of granting the application would be to delay the determination of Mrs Vardy's libel claim by 6-12 months.
"The trial date would undoubtedly have to be vacated and the trial would have to be re-fixed.
"That would not be fair to the claimant (Rebekah) who seeks to vindicate her reputation and would suffer the prejudice of the litigation being prolonged.
"I do not accept the defendant’s submission that a postponement of the trial is, in any event, inevitable.
"On the contrary, there are 12 weeks before the trial is due to begin.
"For the reasons I have given, I refuse to grant permission for the additional claim against the respondent (Miss Watt) to be made or for permission to add the respondent as an additional party in the additional claim against her."
In another blow, Mrs Justice Steyn also refused Coleen's request to use the text messages in her libel defence.
In one, Rebekah, wife of ex-England and Leicester City striker, Jamie, 35, sneers: "Stupid cow deserves everything she gets!
"Hope she gets sold out massively now"
"That would not be fair to the claimant (Rebekah) who seeks to vindicate her reputation and would suffer the prejudice of the litigation being prolonged.
Mrs Justice Steyn
In another message she says: "Not having her bad mouth me to anyone…if she’s doing that my god she will be sorry."
And in a separate exchange she fumes: "I’ve taken a big dislike to her! She thinks she’s amazing…Would love to leak those stories."
Miss Watt apparently brands Coleen "trash" and says "she's so up her own arse".
Rebekah's lawyers have since claimed the pair were referring to someone else.
The judge did, however, order the disclosure of WhatsApp messages between Rebekah and Miss Watt during the relevant period.
Rebekah is suing Coleen for libel after she accused her of leaking stories to the media in her now infamous October 2019 Wagatha Christie post.
Coleen says she began her clandestine operation to flush out the leak in January 2019 after a rash of personal stories appeared in the media.
She identified her private Instagram account as the source and sifted through 300 accounts of "trusted friends and family" before drawing up a list of possible suspects.
Coleen focused on those who had "a track record or reputation" for leaking private information to the Press or "courting close links".
She then invented fake posts which were "interspersed with true or mundane ones" to give the impression that the account was operating normally.
In her now infamous Wagatha post in October 2019 she detailed her investigation and told her millions of followers she had been betrayed.
She ended: "It's … Rebekah Vardy's account."
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Their £1million libel trial is due to begin in May but is likely to be delayed.
A spokesman for Coleen said: "Coleen and her legal team remain confident of winning this case when it comes to trial in May."
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