Rebekah Vardy denies orchestrating World Cup photo

Rebekah Vardy has denied orchestrating a photograph of footballers' wives and girlfriends at the 2018 World Cup.

Mrs Vardy was giving evidence on the third day of her High Court libel trial against Coleen Rooney.

Mrs Rooney is being sued after claiming Mrs Vardy leaked private information she obtained on Instagram to the Sun.

On Thursday, Mrs Rooney's barrister David Sherborne repeatedly suggested Mrs Vardy was lying about the extent of her relationship with the press.

Mr Sherborne pointed to text messages which suggested Mrs Vardy and her agent Caroline Watt colluded with the press to set up photographs.

He accused Mrs Vardy of secretly working with a paparazzi photographer to take a picture of her and her fellow "Wags" (a term to describe the wives and girlfriends of England footballers) at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Mr Sherborne referred Mrs Vardy to messages she exchanged with her agent Caroline Watt at the time.

Ms Watt wrote that she had "got a photographer sorted for tomorrow", to which Mrs Vardy replied "OK".

In court, Mrs Vardy accepted she had helped arrange to be photographed as she left her hotel to go to dinner, saying she was "happy" to have her picture taken.

But Mrs Vardy denied orchestrating further photographs to be taken later that evening at a restaurant, when she was spending time with a group of the England team's wives and girlfriends.

Mrs Vardy claimed that further messages she sent to Ms Watt when plans changed during the evening were not because she was working with the agent to arrange a "pap shot" of the group as they left the restaurant.

Mr Sherbourne argued that some messages - including one Mrs Vardy sent to Ms Watt saying she had "bought about 10 minutes" - showed that Mrs Vardy had stalled the women outside the restaurant in an effort to delay them from posting their own pictures on Instagram.

This, Mr Sherborne suggested, would give the photographer time to file his photos to picture agencies and claim them as his exclusive.

Referring to the text about delaying the group for 10 minutes, Mr Sherborne said to Mrs Vardy: "You were terrified you are going to lose your exclusive so you do everything you can to stall them."

"That's not true", said Vardy. She said the messages showed that she was "trying to get her [Ms Watt] off my back so I could put my phone away and enjoy my evening. It had been a crazy couple of days."

The barrister suggested to Mrs Vardy that the other women had been "upset" by the alleged staged photographs, which Mrs Vardy also denied, saying "no one was upset".

Mr Sherborne added that when the other women present that evening found out about the paparazzi, they arranged to put their own photos on social media in an effort to make sure the photographer could not claim his images were exclusive.

After Mrs Vardy said she "had been drinking" so didn't fully "recall" the exact details of what had happened that day, Mr Sherborne again accused the claimant of "lying" to the court.

Mr Sherborne suggested Mrs Vardy had been continually changing her story, which she denied, and later of having "selective amnesia".

Mrs Vardy's witness statements were repeatedly revised ahead of the libel trial, Mr Sherborne noted.

Reading a previous witness statement from Mrs Vardy, he said: "'The claimant had nothing to do with the photograph which was published in The Sun on 26 June 2018. She did not arrange a photographer to be present and received no payment'. You didn't arrange a photograph?"

"Yes, that's true", Mrs Vardy replied.

He continued: "So, you changed your case."

Reading an amended statement from July 2021, he said: "You say this: 'The claimant did not orchestrate the picture that was published in The Sun'.

"What's gone from [the previous statement] is that you no longer say you had nothing to do with the photograph that was published."

Mrs Vardy said Mr Sherborne was "confusing" her when asked if both statements were true, before going on to say: "Sometimes you make mistakes."

Mr Sherborne said: "Mrs Vardy, the reason you can't get your story straight is because you are lying." Mrs Vardy replied: "No, I wasn't."

Before the close of proceedings on Wednesday, Mrs Vardy admitted to arranging for a photographer to take a picture of her leaving Leicester Maternity Hospital after giving birth, in order to control her own story and image in the press.

The so-called "Wagatha Christie" trial centres on a viral social media post in October 2019, in which Mrs Rooney said she had carried out a sting operation to find out who had been passing private information about her life to the press.

Mrs Rooney, the wife of former England footballer Wayne, claimed that she had clamped down on her privacy settings so that the only account that could have seen three fake stories she had posted - which later appeared in the Sun - was Mrs Vardy's.

Mrs Vardy has denied being the source of the leaks and said a number of people had access to her accounts. Ms Watt has also denied being the source and has been deemed too ill to testify.

The libel case, which will be settled by a judge, not a jury, is set to run until next Wednesday and the onus is on the defendant Mrs Rooney to prove that it was in fact Mrs Vardy who leaked the stories in question.

Mrs Rooney is due to give evidence on Friday while her husband is set to do so early next week.

Lawyers for both women are expected to give their closing arguments on Wednesday.