Coleen Rooney breaks cover for first time since Rebekah Vardy trial kicked off
Wayne Rooney’s wife Coleen has been seen out in public for the first time since her libel trial against Rebekah Vardy started last week – Rebekah is suing Coleen for libel after she accused her account of leaking fake news stories about her
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Coleen Rooney has been spotted out in public for the first time since her libel trial with Rebekah Vardy kicked off last week.
Jamie Vardy’s wife Rebekah is suing Wayne Rooney’s wife Coleen for libel after she accused her account of leaking fake news stories about her.
As the proceedings kicked off at London’s High Court, Rebekah was seen carrying on with her life as normal, heading to training for her upcoming stint on Dancing On Ice.
Coleen wasn’t seen until today when she was spotted driving her Mercedes-Benz in Manchester with at least one of her kids in the back of the car.
Coleen and Rebekah’s feud began last year when the former posted an explosive statement about the latter on Instagram.
She was branded ‘Wagatha Christie’ when she revealed she had laid a trap on her private Instagram account after becoming suspicious of her followers.
Coleen said information she was posting to just her close friends and family was being leaked to a national newspaper and that she eventually blocked every account but Rebekah’s from seeing her posts, only to find that the stories were still being leaked.
After Coleen released her infamous “It’s… Rebekah Vardy’s account” statement, Rebekah, who was heavily pregnant at the time, denied the allegations and said she was disappointed that she hadn’t come directly to her to deal with it.
As the court proceedings began last week, a statement from Rebekah claimed that she had been abused by trolls and was left feeling suicidal after Coleen’s statement.
Vile trolls went as far as to link Rebekah to Islamic State and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann after she was painted as a “villain” by Coleen.
Rebeakah’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC said she had felt suicidal, visited hospital three times due to her anxiety and worried she could lose her baby over the stress she was going through.
He said: “The claimant has suffered extreme distress, hurt, anxiety and embarrassment.”
After Coleen’s statement dropped, some social media users parodied it to joke that Rebekah was the leader of the Islamic State and that she’d been involved in Maddie’s disappearance in Portugal in 2007.
Mr Tomlinson added: “Following the police announcing that a new suspect had been identified in the disappearance of Madeline McCann, the claimant was the subject of highly distressing publications on Twitter alleging she was the suspect.”
He went on: “In fact, [Rebekah] did nothing wrong. Whatever leaks there were did not come from her.”
Coleen has denied any wrongdoing.
In a written defence, her lawyers argued the post was “entirely legitimate and justified” and said that the stories had been derived from Rebekah’s account, rather than her directly.
David Sherborne, representing Coleen, wrote: “The claimant was responsible for consistently passing on information about the defendant’s private Instagram posts and stories to [a newspaper], with whom she had a very close relationship.”
The judge ruled in Rebekah’s favour at the first stage of the libel trial, saying that Coleen must now prove it was Rebekah herself who leaked the stories rather than someone else who had access to her account.
Coleen has since released a defiant statement, telling MailOnline through her representative: “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.
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