VARD TIMES
Another blow for Rebekah Vardy as judge rules she MUST pay Coleen Rooney extra £100k in £1.8m Wagatha battle
Becky's bill is rising as lawyers for both Wags battle it out again
REBEKAH Vardy has been dealt another Wagatha blow after a judge today ruled she must pay Coleen Rooney a further £100,000.
Lawyers for both Wags have been battling it out in court once again this week as a row rumbles on over costs.
4
4
Rebekah, 42, was ordered to pick up 90 per cent of Coleen's bill - including an initial payment of £800,000 - after she sensationally lost the libel case.
Senior Costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker has now ordered Jamie Vardy's wife to hand over a further £100,000 within 21 days.
He said: "I think there is some scope for a further payment on account so the defendant (Mrs Rooney) is not kept out of her costs, and I think that should be no more than £100,000."
The blow comes after Rebekah yesterday lost a bid to slash Coleen's costs, which have been put at £1,833,906.89.
Her lawyer Jamie Carpenter KC accused Coleen's team of "deliberately deceiving” the court by underestimating costs and time spent working on the case.
But Mr Gordon-Saker found "on balance and, I have to say, only just", that team Coleen had not committed wrongdoing.
As a result, it would therefore not be "appropriate" to reduce the amount of money Rebekah should pay - meaning she could still be landed with a £1.6million bill.
Mr Carpenter also accused Coleen's team of adopting a "kitchen sink approach" when calculating the total.
Most read in Showbiz
He claimed the bill included costs for one of Coleen's team to stay at the five star Nobu Hotel.
Wayne Rooney reveals his major role in wife's Wagatha Christie trial and 'applied to study law' at university after case
It also included "substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges", the lawyer said.
But Robin Dunne, for Coleen, argued it was "frankly outrageous" to accuse them of dishonesty.
He also said Rebekah had shown "deplorable conduct" in the case and and costs could have been lower if "she conducted this litigation appropriately".
The lawyer added: "This was a libel claim which Mrs Vardy chose to launch, despite knowing that the Instagram post was true.
"Mrs Vardy refused to engage with Mrs Rooney to try and avoid these proceedings and by her conduct meant that significant additional costs were required to be incurred by Mrs Rooney.
"It sits ill in Mrs Vardy's mouth to now claim that Mrs Rooney's costs, a great deal of which were caused directly by her conduct, are unreasonable."
Rebekah brought the multi-million pound case to court after she was accused of leaking stories to the press.
But Coleen - wife of ex-England ace Wayne - won the epic libel battle in 2022 - bringing an end to the three-year saga.
The row erupted back in October 2019 when Coleen and accused Rebekah of sharing stories from her personal Instagram account.
In the infamous post, Coleen said she posted a string of false stories via her Instagram account with restricted access to see if they appeared in the media, which they did.
She then said the fake stories had only been viewed by one person, and ended dramatically: “It’s . . . Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
In return, Rebekah declared war and accused Coleen of destroying her reputation as she brought the libel case to court.
But her reputation and finances were left hanging in tatters after she was savaged by Mrs Justice Steyn in her ruling.
The judge said Rebekah "knew of, condoned and was actively engaged" in leaks to the media by her agent Caroline Watts.
She branded the mum-of-five's evidence as "manifestly inconsistent" but praised Coleen as an "honest and reliable" witness.
Mrs Justice Steyn also found Rebekah deliberately destroyed evidence to cover up her deceit.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The hearing, which neither woman attended, come before a full "line-by-line" assessment of costs takes place.
This will decide the overall amount of money to be paid and is likely to take place next year.
4
4
Topics