Coleen Rooney has broken her silence on her “Wagatha Christie” court battle against Rebekah Vardy, saying: “What I said in that post, I still stick by today.”
Rooney, the wife of former England star Wayne, publicly claimed in October 2019 that Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, shared three fake stories posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper.
Her online sleuthing – which involved posting false stories and limiting who could see them – drew comparisons to Agatha Christie, the famed crime novelist.
Recalling the night before, Rooney said in an interview with British Vogue: “I’d started thinking about what I was going to do. I just wanted these stories to stop.
“So I started writing what I wanted to say and then the next morning I put it out there. That was the start of something that I would never have expected.”
Vardy attempted to sue her fellow WAG for defamation.
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The Wagatha Christie trial – explained
Legal case was ‘scary’
The social media drama subsequently sparked a high-profile libel trial – and Vardy was ordered to pay Rooney’s legal costs after losing the case.
She said they were “in the same world” – so she thought Vardy would be similarly protective of family privacy.
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Though Vardy “wasn’t a friend” and they “never socialised”, Rooney said she had never fallen out with another footballer’s partner before.
“I’ve never been in a legal case before so for me it was scary,” she said.
“What a horrible experience.”
“It was so difficult in that courtroom,” she continued, “especially watching her on the stand. It was quite painful. I felt uneasy.”
Rooney said text messages revealed in court between Vardy and her former agent Caroline Watt, in which they talked about her late sister Rosie, who died from Rett syndrome in 2013 aged 14, “knocked me sick”.
She also spoke about her wardrobe for the trial.
“I’d rather spend money on a holiday wardrobe than a court wardrobe,” she said, adding that having broken her foot a few weeks earlier which was still in a medical boot by the time of the trial, she bought a couple of pairs of trousers.
Her husband carried her Fendi tote bag into court for her on the first day, and continued to do so every day after that. “I think it was a superstition thing,” she said.
Image: The bag gained more popularity than Coleen’s medical boot
‘It’s my story to tell’
Rooney also revealed the trial impacted their relationship at the time.
“He was supportive, you know, but it took its toll. He kept saying all the way throughout it ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be fine’. But there were certain moments where we did have disagreements. Not over the case, but he would get annoyed with me because I was quite short-tempered. You know, I didn’t have time for him. I lost my focus.”
She has recently been filming for a new three-part fly-on-the-wall Disney+ documentary about the court case.
“I felt like everyone else has spoken about it except me,” she said. “And it’s my story to tell.”
All flights were halted at Edinburgh Airport this morning due to an IT issue affecting its air traffic control provider.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport later announced service had resumed.
Its post read: “Flights have now resumed following the IT issue with our air traffic provider.
“We thank passengers for their patience and understanding.”
But passengers continue to feel the effects.
A Delta Air Lines flight from New York to Edinburgh was diverted to Dublin after going into a holding pattern over the Scottish capital.
And a live arrivals board on the airport’s website showed multiple flights diverted, delayed and cancelled.
Image: Arrivals board at Edinburgh Airport. Pic: Edinburgh Airport
Morven McCall and Cody Stevenson, both 19, were due to fly easyJet from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on their first trip away together.
Morven told Sky News: “We literally just got into the airport and as soon as we walked through the door there was an announcement that it had been cancelled.
“I was ill over the summer and had to cancel two holidays already, this was our first time going away together. We are just gutted and stressed.”
Image: Arrivals at Edinburgh Airport. File pic: PA
One passenger was on a plane when they found out.
They said: “We boarded our flight and pushed back on time for an 8.45 (am) departure, then sat for a while before the pilot told us what was happening.
“He updated us a couple of times, cabin crew are brilliant at handing out water etc, and I’m surprised that everyone appears to be upbeat. But then you do wonder how long for, just been told we’re hoping to be in the air in 20 minutes.”
Another passenger told us: “The first news was from the airport announcement as we were halfway through boarding, saying the airfield was closed due to air traffic control down.
“No one knew what was going on. We’d already been delayed a bit before boarding, with no reason. I suspect problems started about 9am.”
It comes after an earlier announcement that all flights had been halted.
“No flights are currently operating from Edinburgh Airport,” the previous statement said.
“Teams are working on the issue and will resolve as soon as possible.”
There was no timeframe for recovery initially, Sky News learned.
It’s understood by PA that the issue was not linked to today’s Cloudflare outage.
Edinburgh Trams also posted on X, writing: “If you’re travelling with us to @EDI_Airport this morning, please be aware that flights are not currently operating.”
The airport urged passengers to contact their airline for the latest information on flights.
An average of 43,000 passengers per day use the airport, which is served by 37 airlines flying to 155 destinations.
The police watchdog says it is investigating after a teenager who was tasered by an officer on a motorway was fatally hit by a car.
Logan Smith, 18, was being taken to hospital in an ambulance at about 11pm on Sunday when the vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder of the M5 in Somerset.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the vehicle stopped on the northbound carriageway “due to the concerns of ambulance staff”.
Mr Smith got out of the ambulance near the junction for Weston-super-Mare and “entered the live lanes of the motorway”, the watchdog added.
Police were called and an officer arrived at the scene, with bodycam footage showing the officer discharging their Taser, causing the teenager to fall to the ground.
“Soon afterwards” Mr Smith was struck by a car travelling on the southbound carriageway, the IOPC said.
The watchdog said it was investigating the “actions and decisions taken by Avon and Somerset Police prior to the death of a teenager”.
IOPC Director Derrick Campbell said: “My thoughts and sympathies are with Logan’s family and friends and everyone affected by this shocking and tragic incident.
“We want to reassure everyone that we will independently investigate all the circumstances surrounding this incident, including the use of a Taser.
“After being notified by the force, we sent our investigators to the police post incident procedure to begin gathering evidence.
“We have taken initial accounts from the officer and ambulance staff involved.
“We met with Logan’s family on Tuesday, to give our condolences, explain our role and to provide some further detail about our investigation, including a Taser being discharged during the incident.
“We will continue to keep them updated and they request that their privacy be respected at such a difficult time.”
The coroner has been informed and formal identification and a post-mortem have taken place.
A former doctor has been charged over alleged sexual assaults on 38 patients in his care.
Nathaniel Spencer, 38, has been charged with 15 counts of sexual assault, 17 counts of assault by penetration, nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of assault a child under 13 by penetration and one count of attempted assault by penetration.
It follows a police investigation into alleged sexual offences between 2017 and 2021.
Staffordshire Police said in a statement the charges come after a complex investigation by the Public Protection Unit into sexual offences at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, and Russells Hall Hospital, in Dudley.
Image: North Staffordshire Justice Centre
Ben Samples, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the West Midlands CPS Complex Casework Unit and Serious Violence, Organised Crime and Exploitation Unit, said: “We have decided to prosecute Nathaniel Spencer for a number of serious sexual offences allegedly carried out against patients while he was working as a doctor – including assault by penetration and sexual assault against a child.
“Our prosecutors have worked at length to support a detailed and complex investigation by Staffordshire Police, carefully reviewing the available evidence to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.”
Spencer, from Birmingham, will appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 20 January 2026.
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