Rebekah Vardy - live: Peter Andre ‘manhood’ article discussed in Coleen Rooney trial

The court heard on the first day of the libel trial on Tuesday that Coleen Rooney, who has been accused by Rebekah Vardy of defamation, will rely on a public interest defence.

But the High Court also heard that Ms Rooney did not put her accusations that Ms Vardy betrayed her trust – by leaking stories to the Sun newspaper – to her in advance of publishing her viral tweet that garnered her the nickname ‘Wagatha Christie’.

Another defence is that the betrayal allegations are true, which she would need to prove.

Rebekah Vardy said – on the first day of the libel trial on Tuesday – that she was unaware that her former agent’s phone had allegedly fallen into the North Sea.

Ms Vardy has been accused by Coleen Rooney of leaking her personal information to the press, for which Ms Vardy is suing her for defamation.

Ms Vardy has since alleged her former agent Caroline Watt could have been responsible for viewing Ms Rooney’s Instagram Stories and giving the information to the Sun newspaper.

Ms Watt had claimed earlier this year, ahead of the trial, that data could not be extracted from her phone in 2021 as her phone had fallen into the North Sea after a boat she was travelling on hit choppy waters.

Ms Vardy has claimed, in her written statement, to have “no personal knowledge” of this alleged incident happening.

Here’s a run-down by Colin Drury of how the ‘Wagatha Christie’ case first started

The libel trial took an unexpected turn when Peter Andre, and his sex life, was dragged into the proceedings.

The High Court heard that Rebekah Vardy divulged information about her alleged fling with the former pop star to the press.

But Ms Vardy, who is suing fellow WAG Coleen Rooney for defamation, claimed that she had been “forced” by her ex-husband to make the claim about Mr Andre’s alleged small “manhood” to the News of the World.

You can read more about this here:

Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney are being represented at the High Court by two top lawyers who have a list of high-profile former clients.

Ms Vardy is represented by veteran media barrister Hugh Tomlinson, whose previous clients include Prince Charles, easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, footballer Rio Ferdinand, and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Ms Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne has a client list including the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Hollywood actor Michael Douglas and former prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie.

Rebekah Vardy was asked whether it was “respectful” of Peter Andre’s “right not to share this information” about their sexual encounter with a newspaper.

She replied: “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret… It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me this is mudslinging and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney’s team.”

Asked the question again by Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne, Mrs Vardy said: “The circumstances around it were completely different.”

She later said she did not ask Mr Andre for his permission or tell him it was going to happen in advance.

Mr Sherborne asked: “Did you feel particularly strongly about the size of his manhood that it should be made public?”

Mrs Vardy replied: “It was something that I was forced to say.”

Earlier today, Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne asked Rebekah Vardy questions about an interview she gave to the News Of The World about Mrs Vardy’s claimed sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre.

Mr Sherborne showed what appeared to an A3 printout of the article to Mrs Vardy in the witness box before reading the headline: “Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes”.

The barrister read excerpts from the article, in which it was claimed Mr Andre had managed “just five minutes of sex with Rebekah” and in which she said he had “the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen” that was like a “miniature chipolata”.

Mr Sherborne suggested to Mrs Vardy that the News Of The World was the “highest circulating newspaper at the time”, read by some four million people.

The hearing has now finished - the second day of the trial will begin at 10.30am tomorrow.

Rebekah Vardy confirmed she did not tell Coleen Rooney her agent Caroline Watt had access to her private Instagram account.

David Sherborne asked her: “You agree with me that if Ms Watt was looking at people’s private Instagram accounts through the use of your account that you’ve given her, that would be wrong, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes,” Mrs Vardy replied, later adding: “I didn’t know that’s what was happening.”

Mr Sherborne is now taking Ms Vardy through Instagram’s terms and conditions, which he tells the court says a user cannot give someone else their login credentials.

He asks Ms Vardy: “To roam through other people’s private accounts because you’ve got the access to do that through someone else’s login credentials that’s just wrong isn’t it?”

She replies: “Yes.”