Rebekah Vardy laughs during Dancing On Ice filming after wag battle
PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: The face that says 1-0 to Vardy! Rebekah laughs and jokes during Dancing On Ice filming after winning the first round of her Wagatha Christie court battle with Coleen Rooney
- The outing comes three days after Rebekah, 38, won the first round of her High Court libel battle against Coleen Rooney , 34, after she accused her of leaking stories about her
- The Judge said Rooney’s post accusing Vardy’s account of leaking stories about her private life to the media ‘clearly identified’ her as being ‘guilty of serious and consistent breach of trust that she alleges’
- The judge disagreed with Rooney’s claim that using multiple ellipses in the infamous final line of the post – ‘It’s…………….Rebekah Vardy’s account’ – diluted the meaning
- Rooney made the accusation last October after carrying out a months-long ‘sting operation’
- Vardy denies the accusations and is suing Rooney for damages
Rebekah Vardy was pictured laughing and joking during Dancing On Ice filming in a park in west London on Sunday.
The outing comes three days after Rebekah, 38, won the first round of her High Court libel battle against Coleen Rooney, 34, after she was accused of leaking stories about Mrs Rooney’s private life to the media.
Rebekah looked as though she didn’t have a care in the world as she larked around with her professional skating partner Graham Bell while filming the socially distanced scene.
The face that says 1-0 to Vardy! Rebekah laughed and joked during Dancing On Ice filming in west London on Sunday after winning the first round of her Wagatha Christie court battle with Coleen Rooney
The wife of footballer Jamie Vardy was easy to spot in her bright pink coat which she teamed with blue skinny jeans, a grey sweater and Grenson lace-up boots.
She kept out the cold with a cosy looking light-pink beanie hat and her dark locks were styled to perfection in loose curls.
At one point, she had everyone around her in stitches as she threw herself down on a bench to have a pretend sleep after weeks of gruelling ice skating training sessions.
Ups and downs: Rebekah (top) and Coleen Rooney used to be pals – pictured watching England v Wales during Euro 2016 at Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens, France in 2016
Coleen has accused Rebekah of giving the press ‘false stories’ about her private life last October after carrying out a months-long ‘sting operation’ which saw her dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’.
The wife of former England star Wayne claimed fellow footballer’s wife Mrs Vardy shared fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.
Last week, the court ruled the post ‘clearly identified’ Mrs Vardy as being ‘guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust’ – but minutes later Mrs Rooney hit back with a statement via her spokesman, saying she was ‘keen’ to hear what Mrs Vardy has to say in court.
Putting on a brave face? You wouldn’t think Rebekah had the stress of a £1m libel case looming
Time for a kip? She soon lay across the bench as if to say she was completely worn out by her training schedule
Stylish: The wife of footballer Jamie Vardy was easy to spot in her bright pink coat which she teamed with blue skinny jeans, a grey sweater and Grenson lace-up boots
Mrs Rooney famously wrote on Instagram and Twitter: ‘I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s ……………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for damages for libel at the High Court in London.
The ruling at the High Court related to the wording in the final sentence of the post, with Mrs Rooney claiming she simply referred to Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account rather than Mrs Vardy herself.
Safety first: Her professional skating partner Graham Bell made sure to keep a distance from the rest of the crew
Hello! The brunette beauty had a big smile on her face as some passers by stopped for a socially distanced chat
Nice to meet you! She extended a socially distanced hand out to her fans while remaining on the bench
You staying there all day? Graham seemed rather amused by Rebekah’s antics as he stood close by
But the judge said an ordinary reader would not take the word ‘account’ to ‘indicate that Mrs Rooney remains in doubt about who the wrongdoer was’.
He also disagreed with Mrs Rooney’s claim that using multiple ellipses in the final line diluted the meaning.
This means the court has no doubt as to who the accusation was made against – Mrs Vardy – which will be a consideration if the libel case goes to trial next year.
Walking tall: Dancing On Ice won’t air until the new year, but lots of work has been done over the last few months
Chic: Rebekah kept out the cold with her baby pink beanie hat which suited her perfectly
Time to get up: Graham pointed the finger at the star as she refused to budge
Troubled times: Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies the accusations and is suing Mrs Rooney for damages for libel at the High Court in London – but she seemed in high spirits
Mrs Rooney’s spokesman told MailOnline: ‘Today’s ruling on the technical legal meaning of the post changes nothing. Coleen’s defence to this misguided action was filed last month.
‘It sets out clearly the facts of her case, which remain the same irrespective of any decision on the meaning. The key issues of the case remain the three stories from Coleen’s private Instagram account published by The Sun and Rebekah’s relationship with the newspaper, including its ‘Secret Wag’ column.
‘Coleen is pleased the judge has ordered that Rebekah must file her reply to the defence, on oath, by no later than December 8. After three years of stress and anxiety about the leaks from her private social media account, Coleen is keen to see progress made on the real issues, beginning with what Rebekah has to tell the court.’
Coleen wrote on Instagram and Twitter last year: ‘I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s ……………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
In his judgment today, Mr Justice Warby ruled that the ‘natural and ordinary’ meaning of Mrs Rooney’s posts was that Mrs Vardy had ‘regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Ms Rooney’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun newspaper of Ms Rooney’s private posts and stories’.
Announcing his decision, the judge said that the meaning he had determined was ‘substantially the same as the claimant’s meaning’.
Why does the ruling in the case matter?
Today’s ruling at the High Court related to the wording in the final sentence of Coleen Rooney’s infamous Instagram post, in which she accused Rebekah Vardy of leaking ‘false stories’ about her private life to the media.
She wrote: ‘I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It’s ……………. Rebekah Vardy’s account.’
Mrs Rooney claimed she simply referred to Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account rather than Mrs Vardy herself.
But the judge said an ordinary reader would not take the word ‘account’ to ‘indicate that Mrs Rooney remains in doubt about who the wrongdoer was’.
Today, the judge made an important ruling that the post ‘clearly identified’ Mrs Vardy as being ‘guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust’.
He also disagreed with Mrs Rooney’s claim that using multiple ellipses in the final line diluted the meaning.
This means the court has no doubt as to who the accusation was made against – Mrs Vardy – which will be a consideration if the libel case goes to trial next year.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Warby said Mrs Rooney’s message was ‘a considered post, using wording composed with some care’, adding: ‘It would be clear to the ordinary reader from the outset that it was meant seriously and intended to convey a message of some importance.’
The judge disagreed with Mrs Rooney’s claim that using multiple ellipses in the infamous final line of the post – ‘It’s…………….Rebekah Vardy’s account’ – diluted the meaning.
He wrote: ‘Indeed, the element of suspense introduced by the multiple dots seems to me designed to raise expectations of a dramatic revelation.
‘It tends to emphasise the importance of the name that is then provided. It would be a poor denouement if all that was being said was that the named individual was to be suspected of the wrongdoing but it might be someone else.’
He also rejected Mrs Rooney’s contention that she simply referred to Mrs Vardy’s Instagram account rather than Mrs Vardy herself.
The judge ruled: ‘The reader is told straight away that the message is about bad behaviour by ‘someone who I trusted’. The post then takes the form of a ‘whodunnit’.’
He added: ‘I certainly do not think that the ordinary reader would take that single word (account), albeit repeated, to indicate that Mrs Rooney remains in doubt about who the wrongdoer was.’
He later said: ‘There is nothing in these words, apart from the word ‘account’, that in any way suggests that the behaviour of which Mrs Rooney is complaining might have been carried out by anyone other than the account holder, Mrs Vardy.’
Mr Justice Warby also ordered Mrs Rooney to pay Mrs Vardy just under £23,000 in costs for yesterday’s hearing.
‘The usual order in these kinds of trials is that the losing party pays the costs,’ Mrs Vardy’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC said.
Rebekah Vardy is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, pictured together at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2017
Coleen Rooney is married to Derby County footballer Wayne Rooney, pictured while he was at Manchester United in 2016
What are Wags? Wives And Girlfriends, M’lud…
By ARTHUR MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL
It’s a term in common usage for more than a decade.
Yet Rebekah Vardy’s barrister felt it necessary to explain to the High Court yesterday what a ‘Wag’ is.
Hugh Tomlinson QC said it refers to the wives and girlfriends of well-known footballers and was a term first coined in 2006, during the World Cup in Germany, when players’ partners were photographed in bars and nightclubs in Baden-Baden, where the England team was based.
He went on to explain that Coleen Rooney had been dubbed Wagatha Christie by newspapers due to ‘her process to find the true villain of the piece’.
There was also debate over whether it was ‘widely known’ that celebrities and other media personalities may have their social media accounts managed by others.
Mrs Rooney’s lawyer David Sherborne said it was well known to social media users – but perhaps not to lawyers and judges from an older generation.
During arguments yesterday, Mr Tomlinson said Mrs Rooney’s posts were an ‘untrue and unjustified defamatory attack’ which was ‘published and republished to millions of people’.
He added: ‘In fact she did nothing wrong. Whatever leaks there were did not come from her.’
Mrs Vardy’s written claim, filed in June, detailed the ‘very high levels of public abuse and ridicule’ she received after Mrs Rooney’s post.
She suffered extreme distress, hurt and embarrassment, her lawyers said, and felt suicidal. The filing also detailed some of the ways Mrs Rooney’s post was reported and repeated on social media.
Following a tweet from Donald Trump about knowing who the new leader of the so-called Islamic State was, some users joked that it was Mrs Vardy.
While others later said she was involved in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Mrs Vardy’s husband Jamie was also targeted with chants during football matches as opposition fans chanted slogans including ‘your wife is a grass’ for up to five minutes at a time.
Mrs Rooney has denied any wrongdoing and liability for abuse received from third parties.
David Sherborne, representing Mrs Rooney, argued that it was ‘true’ that Mrs Vardy was ‘responsible for consistently passing on information about the defendant’s private Instagram posts and stories to The Sun’.
He said: ‘Mrs Rooney intends to defend these words as true in whatever meaning.’
The court also heard both Mrs Vardy and Mrs Rooney had agreed for a ‘stay’ of the proceedings until February so there could be ‘one final attempt to resolve the matter without the need for a full trial’.
On her way: Coleen pictured nipping to Waitrose supermarket in Alderley Edge, Cheshire last week has said she believes the cost of the legal fees could be better spent elsewhere
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