The Wagatha Christie saga is.......finally over.
The long-standing legal battle between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney—the wives of two prominent British soccer stars—concluded on July 29 when a London High Court judge ruled that Coleen, 36, had not defamed Rebekah, 40, in her October 2019 viral tweet, per CNN.
The libel lawsuit, which began in June 2020 and resulted in a dramatic trial in May, centered around Coleen's social media post in which she claimed that Rebekah was leaking private information about her and her family to the British tabloid The Sun, per the BBC.
In a written decision, the Judge, Justice Karen Steyn stated that the damages Rebekah suffered following the online fallout did not have "the sting of libel' and that "the case is dismissed," according to the New York Times.
"The evidence...clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behavior," the judge wrote, per CNBC. She added that Rebekah was "actively engaging in it by directing [her former agent Caroline Watt] to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney's posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt."
Following the verdict, Coleen, who is the wife of legendary footballer and Derby County F.C. manager Wayne Rooney, tweeted that she was "pleased" with the result but noted that "It was not a case I ever sought or wanted."
"Both before and after my social media posts in October 2019, I made constant efforts to avoid the need for such a public and drawn out court case. But all my efforts were knocked back by Mrs. Vardy and her lawyers," she explained. "This left me with no alternative but to go through the case to defend myself and to end the repeated leaking of my private information to The Sun."
Coleen also addressed where she and Rebekah—who is married to Leicester City star Jamie Vardy—now stand, adding, "Although I bear Mrs Vardy no ill will, today's judgement makes clear that I was right in what I said on my Instagram post."
In her own statement, Rebekah shared that she was "extremely sad and disappointed" by the verdict, per the BBC.
"It is not the result that I had expected, nor believe was just," she said. "I brought this action to vindicate my reputation and am devastated by the judge's finding...as for the rest of her judgement, she got it wrong and this is something I cannot accept."
The drama between the two WAGs—an acronym for ‘Wives and Girlfriends' that is used heavily within British sports—all began in October 2019 when Coleen tweeted that she had created fictitious Instagram stories and posts to discover who would leak them to the press.
Her methodology, which she described as a "sting operation" during her witness statement, earned the case the name "Wagatha Christie," a nod to the pair's famous husbands and the famed mystery author Agatha Christie.
"Over the past five months I have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into the Sun newspaper. And you know what, they did!" Coleen explained on Twitter. "I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them." She confirmed it was Rebekah's account.
Following the bombshell revelation, Rebekah denied the accusations online, stating, "I never speak to anyone about you as various journalists who have asked me over the years can vouch for."
Rebekah also noted that "various people" had access to her Instagram account and that she could've changed her passwords if she had known about the problem. She added, "I'm not being funny but I don't need the money, what would I gain from selling stories on you?"
While on the witness stand on May 13, Coleen said that the post was a "last resort" to get the leaks to end, per the BBC. She explained that she had offered multiple warnings "many times" on social media but that they "didn't stop."
During her cross-examination on the same day, Rebekah, per the outlet, burst into tears and shared that she brought up the legal action against Coleen because she "didn't do anything wrong."