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Celebrity

19th May 2022

Wagatha Christie: Rebekah Vardy storms out of court just 30 minutes into final day

Steve Hopkins

Vardy had just been accused of destroying evidence.

Rebekah Vardy reportedly left the courtroom just half an hour into the final day of proceedings in the ‘Wagatha Christie’ trial on Thursday.

Coleen and Wayne Rooney are not in attendance due to a “long-standing travel arrangement”, the couple’s barrister told the High Court. The couple is said to be on holiday with their children.

Less than an hour into the closing arguments in the £3million case, Rebekah was said to have left the courtroom with her laptop in hand shortly after Rooney’s lawyer accused her of destroying evidence.

David Sherborne had attacked Rebekah’s credibility in his closing, saying she had given “implausible, throwaway explanations,” in the witness box.

Rebekah was said to have returned to the court, some 45 minutes later.

Sherborne also took a dig at Rebekah’s husband, Jamie Vardy, for making a “brief appearance in court on the last day of evidence”.

The case was expected to conclude on Wednesday, but barristers were given more time to prepare closing arguments. Justice Steyn is expected to deliver a written judgment in the coming weeks.

The High Court trial centres around a viral social media post in October 2019, in which 36-year-old Coleen said she had carried out a “sting operation” and accused Rebekah, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.

Coleen further claimed that an account behind three fake stories she had posted on a personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper was Rebekah’s. Rebekah denies leaking stories and is suing her fellow footballer’s wife for libel. Coleen is defending the post on the basis that she believes it to be true.

On Tuesday, Wayne Rooney took the stand and told about the “awkward” conversation he had to have with Jamie about his wife’s behaviour in 2016. Jamie later branded the comments “nonsense”.

Wayne told the court that he was asked to speak to Jamie and request that his wife “calm down”.

He told the court: “The England manager, Roy Hodgson and his assistant manager Gary Neville… they asked me to, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife.”

Wayne added: “I think we all knew that it was an awkward subject.”

He continued: “So I agreed to speak to Mr Vardy… to ask him to ask his wife to calm down.

“It was an awkward moment for me to speak to Jamie about his wife but I thought it was necessary having been asked by the England manager.”