Wayne Rooney has revealed he was asked by England manager Roy Hodgson to request that Jamie Vardy asked his wife Rebekah to 'calm down' during Euro 2016 in France, as the 'Wagatha Christie' trial continued today.
Rooney, the side's captain, said he was pulled aside by Hodgson and his assistant Gary Neville and asked to raise the 'awkward' issue with Vardy over concerns that Rebekah was 'causing problems and distractions' for the team.
Rooney told the High Court in London today: 'They asked me to, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife and I think we all knew we spoke about it, it was an awkward subject.' Rooney, 36, said he asked 'him to ask his wife to calm down and not bring any issues off the field that were unnecessary.' Rebekah's lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC asked him: 'Ask his wife to calm down - she wasn't dancing on tables?'
Rooney said: 'No, I wasn't aware of that. It was a lot of negativity amongst a lot of media coverage which as a group of players and as the manager of England he didn't want that to happen, so he asked would I be able to speak to Jamie and I went and done so.'
Among the issues was the idea Rebekah had 'some kind of column in The Sun', the court heard. Rooney added: 'I think there was a few things at the time with Rebekah which the leaders of the team asked me to speak to Jamie about. I was at the understanding Rebekah had a column in The Sun newspaper and as I state... I obviously had better things on my mind. It was obviously awkward for me.'
Rooney added that there had been negative media coverage, saying: 'I was asked to speak to Mr Vardy by the England manager and I carried out that instruction. It was an awkward situation for me and I'm sure it was an awkward situation for Mr Vardy, but I felt it was in the best interests of the team.'
Among the other key portions of evidence given at the Royal Courts of Justice during today's hearing:
It comes as Jamie Vardy today made his first appearance at the 'Wagatha Christie' trial as he joined his wife Rebekah to hear former England teammate Rooney give evidence in the £3million libel case against Coleen.
Rooney, 36, spoke at the Royal Courts of Justice one day after his wife Coleen also gave evidence and described messages between Rebekah and her agent about her as 'just evil'.
Coleen, also 36, has accused Rebekah, 40, of leaking 'false stories' about her private life in October 2019 after she said she carried out a months-long 'sting operation' - and the bombshell trial is now in its final few days.
Rebekah denies the allegations and has sued Coleen over the 'untrue and unjustified defamatory attack', with the last of the defence witnesses - including Rooney and his cousin Claire Rooney - set to give evidence today.
In the first five days of the trial, which has seen a tearful Rebekah being subject to a gruelling cross-examination, Leicester City striker Vardy's absence was noted by many observers. In contrast, Coleen's husband Rooney has been ever present, sitting at the front of the court to accompany his wife as she too gave evidence.
Shortly before proceedings began this morning, Vardy took his seat on the left hand side of the court alongside his wife, while the Rooneys arrived a few minutes later, with neither man acknowledging the other. Coleen - who wore a black dress - is still wearing a brace on her foot after fracturing it in a fall at home earlier this year.
Today, the court heard that Rebekah referred to Rooney's cousin Claire Rooney as 'Wayne's chavvy sister' in messages to her agent Caroline Watt. Claire, who was said to be 'close' to the couple, told how the pair appeared to suggest that she may be the source of leaks from Coleen's private Instagram account.
In a written statement, she said she was provided with an extract of Rebekah's WhatsApp messages to Ms Watt in February 2019. She said: 'In that exchange they appear to be discussing the fact that someone else must also be selling stories on Coleen because a story had appeared in The Sun which they say they weren't responsible for. I can see that Caroline Watt suggests 'It's probably someone like Wayne's chavvy sister'.
'Wayne doesn't have a sister and so I assume that Caroline Watt is referring to me as Wayne's cousin and because I still have the Rooney surname. I have never met Caroline Watt in my life nor have I ever spoken to her. I am not aware that Coleen has either. I can confirm that I have never leaked information about Coleen or Wayne, or anyone else for that matter, to the press.'
Claire told the court how she had 800 friends and family on her own private Instagram account. Describing the aftermath of Coleen's 'Wagatha Christie' post, she said: 'She put a couple of posts on her Instagram. I didn't discuss it with her. I didn't feel the need to ask her any more questions.'
Rooney's manager Paul Stretford also gave evidence today and said Rooney raised the issue of his wife facing leaks of her information in 2017. He said: 'He mentioned Coleen was extremely upset regarding leaks about her private information and she was in a position where she didn't know who to trust and was extremely upset.' Mr Stretford said he did not discuss this with Coleen, adding: 'I took Mr Rooney at his word and we took it from there.'
Mr Stretford, who has worked with the star since he was a teenager and helped Coleen design the couple's £30million mansion, said he heard no more about it until Coleen's Wagatha Christie post in 2019.
In his written statement, Mr Stretford added: 'From memory, I think the leaks were mentioned to me by Wayne at one stage and he said that she was really upset about it and it was playing with her head because she did not know who she could trust. I did not speak about it in any more detail. I certainly did not discuss who might be responsible and had no discussions with Coleen about any suspicions that she might have had at the time - Rebekah Vardy's name was certainly never mentioned to me.'
Rebekah's lawyer Hugh Tomlinson QC also asked Mr Stretford about a notification he received from The Sun, about a story regarding Coleen Rooney and a 'minor car crash'. He instructed the Rooney's PR woman Rachel Monk not to give 'any assistance to The Sun in their enquiries', in this case.
Mr Stretford said he 'did not consult' the Rooneys on how to respond. He said this was because he was already aware of all the information in the incident, which he described as a 'bump' which happened about six weeks prior.
Mr Tomlinson asked why he did not tell Ms Monk to 'tell them the true position'. Mr Stretford said: 'I didn't wish to assist The Sun in their quest to stand up a story from wherever they got it from at the time.'
The court has heard Coleen's claim that the story was based on a post on her private Instagram account where she showed a photo of the damage, accompanied by the caption: 'RIP Half a Honda'.
The court also heard that Ms Watt was set up to to 'take the blame' for leaking stories from Coleen's Instagram account. In return Rebekah had agreed she would' look after' her agent and friend 'behind the scenes', it is claimed.
Mr Stretford told of Ms Watt's alleged sacking in the aftermath of Coleen's Wagatha Christie post. He told the court that he received a call from PR expert Ian Monk who broke the news of the 'sacking' 'sometime between October 11 and 15, 2019.
In court documents he said: 'Ian told me that he had been informed that a note had been sent round to all news desks that Rebekah Vardy had sacked Caroline Watt as her agent.'
He said any updates or information relating to the matter from then would be coming from Rebekah's solicitors.
He added: 'I recall having a discussion with Ian Monk and it was my understanding that there were rumours circulating at the time that Rebekah Vardy was going to be severing ties with Caroline Watt albeit she would look after Caroline Watt behind the scenes in return for Caroline Watt publicly taking the blame for having leaked Coleen's Instagram stories and posts to The Sun.'
Giving evidence about the sacking claim, Mr Stretford told the court he was given the information after meeting Mr Monk at London Euston train station. Asked about the claim, he said: 'I was given the information by Mr Monk and put it in my statement.'
Mr Stretford denied Mr Monk had merely 'passed on a rumour' saying: 'I'm not sure that he would be passing on a rumour. I would expect and hope he would be passing something on from knowledge.'
He also dismissed a suggestion the claim may have been made because Rebekah was being subjected to 'absolutely unacceptable' levels of abuse in the aftermath of Coleen's revelation. Mr Stretford described Coleen as 'a very private person'
Coleen finished her evidence yesterday, having first walked into the witness box of Court 13 on Friday. Yesterday, she responded to questions about Rooney's 'misbehaving' and arrest for drink drinking.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, for Rebekah, referred to an article which told of Rooney's arrest for drink driving, when he was caught with another woman in the car.
The barrister said it was 'another apparent crisis' in their relationship and that Rooney had been 'misbehaving'.
Coleen replied: 'Yes there has been a few, it's unfortunate that things have happened in my life and they get publicised, and it has happened quite a few times and I have dealt with it - we have dealt with it as a couple and as a family.'
Mr Tomlinson referred to a 'supportive' message sent around that time from Rebekah to Coleen, saying there was 'nothing suspicious' about it.
Coleen said: 'I already had suspicions ... so as time went on things just seemed to add up. When there were tough times going on, I did feel like Mrs Vardy would message me.'
She added: 'Obviously, having the suspicions that I had, I felt like it was a bit of fishing for information.'
Coleen was also asked about the aftermath of her 'reveal' post and Rebekah's response.
Mr Tomlinson said: 'She makes it clear to you that it wasn't her, doesn't she?'
'She says she has zero interest in what's going on in my life, which I believe is totally untrue,' Coleen replied. 'She talks about me a lot... so that was a lie,' she added.
Coleen then discussed WhatsApp messages the court had heard between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt - in which Coleen featured.
She said she had never met or spoken to Ms Watt, commenting on the agent's exchanges with Rebekah: 'The messages that went on between them were just evil and uncalled for.'
'There's no need for it, I've never done anything to them,' Coleen added.
She later said she had a lot of people contacting her immediately after the post, and Mr Tomlinson said people online were calling her 'Wagatha Christie'.
She responded: 'Yeah, which I just think is ridiculous. I got a lot of people sending me pictures, screenshots and obviously people didn't realise how serious what was behind it was.
'I felt it was hard and people I trusted and people I had let into my circle were going against me.'
She added: 'I have never spoke about this until this case, so I haven't dwelt on it, to be honest with you I have hated every minute of it.'
Yesterday's hearing also featured evidence from Coleen's former PR representative Rachel Monk, about her interactions with The Sun newspaper in relation to stories about the footballer's wife.
On one occasion, according to her witness statement, Ms Monk told a Sun journalist that a story about her client going to a gender selection clinic in Mexico was 'bonkers'.
Harpreet Robertson, a former family liaison officer at the Football Association, told the court that two guests of Rebekah - who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - allegedly being 'rude and abusive' to her at a Euros 2016 match was the 'worst moment' she had experienced at a game.
She claimed in her witness statement that Rebekah's evidence about why she sat behind Coleen at the England versus Wales match was 'simply untrue'.
In a brief appearance in the witness box, Coleen's brother Joe McLoughlin told the court he was 'shocked' when he read his sister's October 2019 social media post revealing her so-called 'sting operation' after helping her to create a 'graphic' of its text shortly before it was sent.
'It was a shock to me,' he said in a brief appearance in the witness box.
Mr McLoughlin explained he helped run his sister's public social media accounts as he worked at Triple S Group - the sports management company supporting Wayne Rooney.
Asked if he had previously discussed with his sister how she might find out who was leaking her information, he replied: 'No, never'.
Also yesterday, Coleen was asked about the abuse Rebekah received on social media after the reveal post. Coleen said: 'I know and it is disgusting. I would never ever wish that upon anyone.
'I was getting trolled as well but obviously Mrs Vardy's was disgusting, the things they were saying ... the world we live in today and the trolling is terrible.'
She told the court that she did not say anything further about her investigation, either to Rebekah or publicly, because of a legal letter she had received from Rebekah's lawyers.
She said: 'I was quite threatened by it. I just held off and tried to take direction from what the solicitors advised me.'
Earlier yesterday, Coleen said she wanted a 'totally untrue' story about a so-called gender selection procedure to be published as 'evidence' for her sting operation to discover the source of leaked stories.
One of the Instagram stories used in the 'sting' was posted on April 8 2019, with Coleen claiming she was travelling to Mexico to look into a procedure to determine a baby's sex.
'Let's go and see what this gender selection is all about,' Coleen posted, accompanied with a number of heart emojis and what appeared to be a grimacing face emoji.
Around four months later, The Sun published a story online on August 15 2019 with the headline 'Col's baby girl bid', marked as an exclusive, detailing Coleen's alleged 'desperate bid to have a baby girl'.
Asked about this post by Mr Tomlinson, Coleen said: 'I wanted the story to run so I had evidence.'
Coleen also told the High Court she 'had suspicions' that Rebekah's Instagram account was responsible for leaking information to journalists when she unfollowed her on the social media site.
She said the pair were 'not good friends' and that if someone had unfollowed her she would 'probably just forget about it and not message' the person, adding: 'I wouldn't have been that bothered really.'
She said: 'I felt it was suspicious. Obviously, I had suspicions in other ways, so this just added to the suspicions that I had.'
Coleen is defending the libel claim brought by Rebekah on the basis of truth and public interest.
The libel battle comes after Coleen publicly claimed that an account behind three fake stories in The Sun that she had posted on her personal Instagram account was Rebekah's.
The fake stories Coleen planted on her Instagram during the sting operation featured her travelling to Mexico for a 'gender selection' procedure, her planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
In the post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, she wrote: 'I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them. It's .......... Rebekah Vardy's account.'