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Mrs Justice Steyn hands down “Wagatha Christie” judgment

“Good news for Coleen Rooney as she successfully defends high profile defamation action”

Rebekah Vardy has failed in her bid to vindicate her reputation in the courts and lost her defamation claim against Colleen Rooney. Rooney was concerned that information on her private Instagram account was being leaked to the press and, after posting false stories on said Instagram account to a dwindling number of recipients, was able to announce that she had whittled the suspects to one posting:

It’s ……….Rebekah Vardy’s account.

Rooney’s defence that the accusation was true succeeded and Mrs Justice Steyn found that: 

Ms Vardy was party to the disclosure to The Sun of the [Instagram] Posts. It is likely that Ms Watt [Ms Vardy’s assistant] undertook the direct act, in relation to each post, of passing the information to a journalist at The Sun. Nonetheless, the evidence […] clearly shows, in my view, that Ms Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the Private Instagram

Whilst the judge was critical of Ms Vardy’ credibility, observing that her evidence was ‘inconsistent’ and ‘evasive’ she also took the opportunity to condemn the online abuse Ms Vardy has suffered stating:

Nothing of which Ms Vardy has been accused, nor any of the findings in this judgment, provide any justification or excuse for subjecting her or her family, or any other person involved in this case, to such vitriol.

If you find that you have been defamed online or if someone has accused you of defamation, feel free to email Angus Young or contact him on 020 8305 4225.