Rebekah Vardy accused of trying to ‘derail’ Coleen Rooney trial in ‘fishing expedition’

has been accused of trying to derail the latest stage of her Wagatha Christie battle with by launching a “fishing expedition” for documents.

Lawyers for the two women have since returned to court on Tuesday (February 11) after an earlier ruling ordered Mrs Vardy to pay 90% of Mrs Rooney’s legal costs – after she lost a legal action alleging libel in 2022.

Her lawyers are disputing the sum, and at a hearing on Tuesday applied for further information about retainers between the wife of former and England striker Wayne Rooney and her solicitors.

The £1.8million bill includes £302,300.39 in VAT – but some of it has already been reclaimed by Mrs Rooney’s solicitors, the High Court heard.

Lawyers for Mrs Vardy – the wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy – are asking the court in London to order Mrs Rooney’s team to hand over “privileged” documents.

In written submissions, Robin Dunne, for Mrs Rooney, said that “despite the hyperbolic nature of the claimant’s argument, there is no genuine issue at all”.

He added: “The defendant is forced to conclude that this is yet another attempt by the claimant to conduct this assessment in a wholly disproportionate manner.” Mr Dunne also said: “The court is invited to extinguish this fishing expedition. There is no genuine issue and the VAT point has been clarified.

The claimant’s application is misconceived, seeking orders which the court has no jurisdiction to make, but moreover is an attempt to derail this assessment. This will lead to yet more costs and delay, which is in neither parties’ interest.”

Jamie Carpenter KC, for Mrs Vardy, told the court that the situation over more than £300,000 in VAT is “murky, to say the least”, and that further disclosure is needed to know the VAT is properly claimed. In his written submissions, he said: “What has emerged gives rise to a number of further questions, which needed to be answered.”

Mr Carpenter added: “It is submitted that it is not an answer simply to say that all of the VAT has been repaid, though the evidence does not presently support that in any event, because it leaves open the question of whether it was properly reclaimed in the first place.”

He also said that these issues need to be cleared up now, adding: “Further, the amount of VAT which is in issue is a clear obstacle to settlement and the avoidance of a further hearing.” In a three-day hearing last October, lawyers for Mrs Vardy argued that the sum she is required to pay should be reduced due to what they said was “serious misconduct” by Mrs Rooney’s legal team, who allegedly “deliberately understated” her costs.

But the judge concluded Mrs Rooney had not committed any wrongdoing.

Senior Costs Judge Mark Whalan said he will give judgment at a later date. Mrs Rooney claimed she spent a total of £1,833,906.89 to go head-to-head with Mrs Vardy.

Mrs Vardy launched an appeal bid against a recent ruling on Mrs Rooney’s legal costs last year in the Wagatha Christie battle.

In a three-day hearing in October 2024, lawyers for Mrs Vardy argued that the sum of Mrs Rooney’s costs should be reduced due to what they said was “serious misconduct” by Mrs Rooney’s legal team.

But Senior Costs Judge Andrew Gordon-Saker found “on balance and, I have to say, only just” that Mrs Rooney’s legal team had not committed wrongdoing.

Therefore, he said, it was “not an appropriate case” to reduce the amount of money that Mrs Vardy should pay.

Mrs Vardy mounted the legal action after Mrs Rooney, the wife of former striker Wayne, publicly accused someone using Mrs Vardy’s account of leaking private information about her to the press.

Mrs Vardy sued her for libel, but Mrs Justice Steyn found in July 2022 ruled that the allegation was “substantially true” and she was ordered to pay 90% of her legal costs including an initial payment of £800,000.

Mrs Vardy’s lawyer Jamie Carpenter KC argued that was “disproportionate”.