SUED FOR SAYING WHAT WAS TRUE

In 2017, Coleen Rooney began to suspect that stories from her private Instagram account were being passed to The Sun. The reports concerned details she had shared only with people she had personally approved to follow her.

Rather than make an immediate accusation, Rooney conducted her own investigation. She gradually prevented every account except one from viewing selected Instagram stories. She then published false information — including invented stories about her basement flooding and travelling abroad for a gender-selection procedure.

The stories subsequently appeared in The Sun.

On 9 October 2019, Rooney published the conclusion of her investigation. Her post ended with the now-famous line: "It's…… Rebekah Vardy's account."

Vardy denied leaking the information. In June 2020, she sued Rooney for libel. A preliminary ruling established that an ordinary reader would understand Rooney's post as accusing Vardy personally — not simply somebody with access to her account. Rooney therefore had to prove that the central allegation was substantially true.

The dispute became a national spectacle. Rooney was portrayed as an amateur detective, the case acquired the name "Wagatha Christie," and intimate messages and private relationships were examined across seven days in the High Court.

On 29 July 2022, Mrs Justice Steyn dismissed Vardy's claim.

The judge found it likely that Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had passed information to The Sun with Vardy's knowledge and approval. She also found that Vardy had sometimes been directly involved by directing Watt towards Rooney's private account and providing additional information.

Vardy's evidence was described as evasive or implausible on significant points. Rooney had succeeded in proving that the essential meaning of her post was substantially true.

The financial dispute continued after the judgment. Vardy was ordered to pay 90% of Rooney's legal costs, with the total contribution eventually exceeding £1 million.

For almost three years, Coleen Rooney was not simply defending an Instagram post. She was a defendant accused of publicly spreading a damaging falsehood.

The court ultimately found that the substance of what she had said was true.

SOURCES