And the winner is............ NOT Rebekah Vardy
July 29, 2022 1:39 PM Subscribe
Liverpudlian Coleen Rooney has been a WAG since the term was invented. Rebekah Vardy is also a WAG albeit perhaps slightly less high profile. The two women are acquainted with each other, and Vardy was a follower of Rooney's private Instagram account. In a social media post that quickly went viral, Rooney claimed to have established in an elaborate sting that Vardy's account was responsibly for leaking stories about her to The Sun newspaper and attracted the hashtag #WagathaChristie
Eight months later, Vardy sued Rooney for libel.
As previously discussed on metafilter, English libel cases are particularly difficult to defend, as while truth is now a defence, the burden of proof lies on the defender. Unsurprisingly, Rooney offered to settle out of court, on multiple occasions. For whatever reason, Vardy did not settle, and they proceeded to, what is believed to be, one of the most expensive libel trials in England and Wales.
Much of the documentary evidence in the trial centred around Whatsapp messages between Vardy and her PR agent Caroline Watt. These showed that at the very least, Vardy and Watt had worked together to leak stories about other people to the Sun and Vardy and Watt had tried to figure out a line to tell Rooney if she suspected that they were leaking from Rooney's private Insta account. Unfortunately, shortly after a court order was made for all the messages, Vardy encountered problems uploading messages which only affected those most directly relevant to the case and Watt accidentally dropped her phone in the North Sea.
This did give the opportunity for the defence QC to mention a case from 1722 (Armory v Delamirie), which suggested that if the court can tell that evidence is missing, then the assumption should be that what is missing is of the highest possible value that would fit the hole
The 75-page judgement was released today. In this case, the judge had the same view of the North Sea phone incident that you probably do and that significant parts of Vardy's evidence was not credible. She also found that Watt probably leaked the stories to the Sun and Vardy knew of and condoned this. Thus what Rooney had stated was substantially true.
Lest you think too ill of Vardy, the judge's view is that Vardy was genuinely indignant about the accusation for a range of contributing reasons and that she did suffer uncalled for online abuse and vitriol.
Eight months later, Vardy sued Rooney for libel.
As previously discussed on metafilter, English libel cases are particularly difficult to defend, as while truth is now a defence, the burden of proof lies on the defender. Unsurprisingly, Rooney offered to settle out of court, on multiple occasions. For whatever reason, Vardy did not settle, and they proceeded to, what is believed to be, one of the most expensive libel trials in England and Wales.
Much of the documentary evidence in the trial centred around Whatsapp messages between Vardy and her PR agent Caroline Watt. These showed that at the very least, Vardy and Watt had worked together to leak stories about other people to the Sun and Vardy and Watt had tried to figure out a line to tell Rooney if she suspected that they were leaking from Rooney's private Insta account. Unfortunately, shortly after a court order was made for all the messages, Vardy encountered problems uploading messages which only affected those most directly relevant to the case and Watt accidentally dropped her phone in the North Sea.
This did give the opportunity for the defence QC to mention a case from 1722 (Armory v Delamirie), which suggested that if the court can tell that evidence is missing, then the assumption should be that what is missing is of the highest possible value that would fit the hole
The 75-page judgement was released today. In this case, the judge had the same view of the North Sea phone incident that you probably do and that significant parts of Vardy's evidence was not credible. She also found that Watt probably leaked the stories to the Sun and Vardy knew of and condoned this. Thus what Rooney had stated was substantially true.
Lest you think too ill of Vardy, the judge's view is that Vardy was genuinely indignant about the accusation for a range of contributing reasons and that she did suffer uncalled for online abuse and vitriol.
- Guide to the case (published the day before the trial judgement)
- mildly amusing thread about the judgement
Have to agree with garius that "Mrs Justice Steyn just living her best life on the page rn".
posted by paduasoy at 1:58 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by paduasoy at 1:58 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
From a couple of months ago, Like a phone dropped in the North Sea, Vardy v Rooney is full of absolute gold:
I've been following this from the beginning and am glad that the verdict ended up the way it did. Unless it's Marcus Rashford getting the Tory government to u-turn over school meals I don't really want to know what these people are up to off of the pitch.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:01 PM on July 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
This detail – merely one aspect of the Vardy team’s full-spectrum data loss – yielded another quote of the trial, with Rooney’s barrister, David Sherborne, observing deliberately obscurely that the phone “is now in Davy Jones’s locker”. Rebekah to the judge: “I’m sorry, I don’t know who Davy Jones is.”I remember when the whole WAG thing started (thanks Becks) and wasn't interested in them then or now. Let's all just focus on the England team coming up short in new ways and leave that other stuff out of the sports pages but
I've been following this from the beginning and am glad that the verdict ended up the way it did. Unless it's Marcus Rashford getting the Tory government to u-turn over school meals I don't really want to know what these people are up to off of the pitch.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:01 PM on July 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
This is what I'd call Fun Drama, for sure. "Phone dropped in the North Sea" and "WAGatha Christie" are comedy gold. Also, girl, YOU BEEN BUSTED, ACCEPT IT.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:15 PM on July 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:15 PM on July 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
> if the court can tell that evidence is missing, then the assumption should be that what is missing is of the highest possible value that would fit the hole
We need to start using this standard in a lot more cases in a lot more countries . . .
posted by flug at 4:13 PM on July 29, 2022 [10 favorites]
We need to start using this standard in a lot more cases in a lot more countries . . .
posted by flug at 4:13 PM on July 29, 2022 [10 favorites]
"Wagatha Christie" would be a great name for a terrier.
posted by SPrintF at 6:05 PM on July 29, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 6:05 PM on July 29, 2022 [14 favorites]
"Wagnarok." Heh. In the battle of wits, it looks like Vardy took the metaphorical knife to a gunfight.
Why on earth do people think it is a good idea to sue for libel when they know they did the thing? I'm going through a mini-version of something similar in my job with a former employee who decided that their generous severance package was not enough so tried their luck with a wrongful dismissal suit. They obviously did not think through getting a court order to have us disclose all the documents we had on our possession, which included everything in their organizational e-mail account. Pro tip: if you decide to launch subversive action against your boss, don't do it on your work e-mail. It's also a good idea to get your friends to send your porn to another account.
On a side note, I will be stealing this comments policy from the link with the guide to the case, as these are true words to live by:
"Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome."
posted by rpfields at 6:35 PM on July 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Why on earth do people think it is a good idea to sue for libel when they know they did the thing? I'm going through a mini-version of something similar in my job with a former employee who decided that their generous severance package was not enough so tried their luck with a wrongful dismissal suit. They obviously did not think through getting a court order to have us disclose all the documents we had on our possession, which included everything in their organizational e-mail account. Pro tip: if you decide to launch subversive action against your boss, don't do it on your work e-mail. It's also a good idea to get your friends to send your porn to another account.
On a side note, I will be stealing this comments policy from the link with the guide to the case, as these are true words to live by:
"Comments are welcome, but they are pre-moderated and comments will not be published if irksome."
posted by rpfields at 6:35 PM on July 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Twitter thread linked ("mildly amusing thread...") is very good for showing the level of tradecraft that Rooney employed. This was no small or casual undertaking. I'm pretty sure there were CIA operations planned with less care. For me, the exemplar of this attention to detail was captured in the excerpt shown in this tweet:
posted by mhum at 6:46 PM on July 29, 2022 [12 favorites]
In relation to the story on 31 August 2019, Ms Rooney explained that when she overheard her brother's partner mention the names of two people (who were followers of the Private Instagram Account) who were going to a barbeque at Ms Vardy's house, she was concerned that if Ms Vardy said anything about the content of her posts and stories these friends would realise that they were blocked and it might cause Ms Vardy to be suspicious that "something was going on with the account". So Ms Rooney enabled those two followers to view stories for the day. Those two followers and Ms Vardy saw the single story she uploaded 31 August 2019.Pure class, an absolute legend.
posted by mhum at 6:46 PM on July 29, 2022 [12 favorites]
"Mildly amusing" is an understatement. I think the highlight of that twitter thread is the killer Columbo pastiche. Chef's kiss, man, chef's kiss.
posted by mpark at 7:25 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mpark at 7:25 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Twitter thread linked ("mildly amusing thread...") is very good for showing the level of tradecraft that Rooney employed. This was no small or casual undertaking. I'm pretty sure there were CIA operations planned with less care.
This is why I enjoyed this so much - Rooney did her homework, and she went above and beyond to establish a link between Vardy's account and the leaker. I was rooting for her, and am thrilled that her detective work was vindicated by a court.
I am, also, separately, thrilled that it turns out that Rebekah Vardy appears to be a petty jerk, because if she was genuinely innocent and being exploited by someone to sell stories to the Sun, that would be very sad. The story is a lot less complicated if she's been caught red-handed.
posted by Merus at 11:44 PM on July 29, 2022
This is why I enjoyed this so much - Rooney did her homework, and she went above and beyond to establish a link between Vardy's account and the leaker. I was rooting for her, and am thrilled that her detective work was vindicated by a court.
I am, also, separately, thrilled that it turns out that Rebekah Vardy appears to be a petty jerk, because if she was genuinely innocent and being exploited by someone to sell stories to the Sun, that would be very sad. The story is a lot less complicated if she's been caught red-handed.
posted by Merus at 11:44 PM on July 29, 2022
One of my favourite moments:
posted by cpatterson at 11:45 PM on July 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
Rebekah Vardy: ‘…..if I’m being honest'Glad to see this result, partly because it does seem that Coleen Rooney is in the right and partly because I am a fellow Col(l)een and have thus always felt an affinity for her. It's not a very common name these days especially in the UK so we have to stick together. Us and Coleen Nolan!
Coleen Rooney’s lawyer: (sounding exasperated) ‘I would hope you’re being honest given you’re sitting in a witness box at the High Court’
posted by cpatterson at 11:45 PM on July 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
Yesterday afternoon I was meant to be reading a long, turgid, technical judgment published the day before that was directly relevant to my job. Instead, I read Vardy v Rooney, as I've been following it eagerly for months. On any reading of the interlocutory judgments relating to discovery of evidence, it was clear to me that (a) Vardy was going to lose and (b) she was going to lose really badly, with her reputation (such that it was) destroyed.
There are some, however, who think this will actually boost Vardy's reputation, making her highly prized as a reality show contestant.
Something that wasn't touched on in the trial (it wasn't relevant to the outcome but is worth mentioning) is that there is particular significance and hurtfulness in the disclosures having been made to The Sun newspaper. In Liverpool and on Merseyside generally it's known as The Scum, following its coverage of the Hillsborough Disaster. I know Wayne Rooney was formerly an Evertonian, not a Red, but feelings against this paper run deep on Merseyside, whether your team is red or blue.
posted by essexjan at 12:38 AM on July 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
There are some, however, who think this will actually boost Vardy's reputation, making her highly prized as a reality show contestant.
Something that wasn't touched on in the trial (it wasn't relevant to the outcome but is worth mentioning) is that there is particular significance and hurtfulness in the disclosures having been made to The Sun newspaper. In Liverpool and on Merseyside generally it's known as The Scum, following its coverage of the Hillsborough Disaster. I know Wayne Rooney was formerly an Evertonian, not a Red, but feelings against this paper run deep on Merseyside, whether your team is red or blue.
posted by essexjan at 12:38 AM on July 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yes, about The Sun. It's not just that Wayne Rooney played for Everton. Both Coleen and Wayne grew up in working class Liverpool families (they started dating as teenagers). The trial established that she has a particular dislike of The Sun, but it would be very surprising if she hadn't had that since childhood.
posted by plonkee at 1:44 AM on July 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by plonkee at 1:44 AM on July 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Why on earth do people think it is a good idea to sue for libel when they know they did the thing?
Broadly speaking the judgement suggests the following reasons for Vardy:
The trial established that someone else was also giving stories about Rooney to The Sun, although that may not have been from the private Insta account. The judge was also of the view that the stories leaked were mainly trivial but that if Rooney didn't want them to be made public she was plainly entitled to that.
posted by plonkee at 2:03 AM on July 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Broadly speaking the judgement suggests the following reasons for Vardy:
- she deceived herself about the extent to which she was involved
- she thought the stories were generally harmless
- at times she may have thought that Rooney secretly wanted the stories to be leaked so that Rooney would get more publicity (as she herself might have done)
- she was convinced she wasn't the only person giving stories about Rooney to The Sun, and that she was being scapegoated
- she received a lot of undeserved terrible abuse online
The trial established that someone else was also giving stories about Rooney to The Sun, although that may not have been from the private Insta account. The judge was also of the view that the stories leaked were mainly trivial but that if Rooney didn't want them to be made public she was plainly entitled to that.
posted by plonkee at 2:03 AM on July 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
CIA operations planned with less care
That's actually a pretty low bar...
posted by HiroProtagonist at 9:08 PM on July 31, 2022
That's actually a pretty low bar...
posted by HiroProtagonist at 9:08 PM on July 31, 2022
If I am reading paragraphs 256-278 of the judgement correctly, Vardy and Watt suspected in Aug of 2019 that Rooney was posting stories to her Instagram to see if anyone would leak them to The Sun. Vardy also wondered if Rooney suspected that she was the leak. Then Vardy/Watt went ahead and leaked the flooded basement story in Oct of 2019 anyway. So that supports the "either doesn't things through at all or isn't all that bright" theory, for both Vardy and Watt.
posted by creepygirl at 1:52 PM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by creepygirl at 1:52 PM on August 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Vardy deciding to sue in the first place and denying it all despite the evidence is also certain indication of those two things.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:40 PM on August 1, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:40 PM on August 1, 2022
The bit where Watt was apparently ruled incompetent to testify made me curious.
posted by tavella at 7:00 AM on August 2, 2022
posted by tavella at 7:00 AM on August 2, 2022
« Older "Do you know how insane that sounds in this... | In memoriam Vincent DeRosa (1920-2022), Horn... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by biffa at 1:52 PM on July 29, 2022 [5 favorites]