Vardy to pay about £1.5 million in Rooney costs after ‘Wagatha Christie’ loss

By Sian Harrison and Jess Glass, PA

Rebekah Vardy will have to pay about £1.5 million (€1.72 million) towards Coleen Rooney’s legal costs after losing the “Wagatha Christie” High Court case she brought against her fellow footballer’s wife.

Mrs Vardy, 40, lost her high-profile libel claim against Mrs Rooney, 36, in July when Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that Mrs Rooney’s viral social media post accusing Mrs Vardy of leaking her private information to the press was “substantially true”.

In an order made public on Tuesday, the judge ruled that Mrs Vardy should pay 90 per cent of Mrs Rooney’s costs.

Mrs Rooney incurred total costs of more than £2 million, but £350,000 of those had already been racked up before the trial in May, so those were removed to produce a final figure of £1,667,860.

Mrs Vardy was ordered to pay £800,000 of the costs bill by 4pm on November 15th.

She will also have to pay costs incurred by seven journalists who were potential witnesses but did not give evidence – apart from a portion of their costs which Mrs Rooney has already been ordered to pay.

The judge ruled on various issues relating to Mrs Rooney’s costs after receiving written legal arguments on behalf of both women.

The total amount of Mrs Vardy’s legal costs is not known, but is expected to be of a similar level to those incurred by Mrs Rooney.