Rebekah Vardy trial - live: Rooney ‘revelled in’ Wagatha Christie nickname

Speaking softly from the witness stand, Vardy gave her full name as Rebekah Vardy.

Her barrister has just taken her through a folder containing her signed witness statements.

Rebekah Vardy has just been called by her barrister to give evidence on the witness stand.

Coleen Rooney’s barrister has said Rebekah Vardy had the “means, opportunity and motive” to be responsible for leaking the fake stories from Ms Rooney’s Instagram account.

Mr Sherborne told the court: “In short, we say Mrs Vardy had the means, she had the opportunity with her links to The Sun, and she had the motive to secretly pass on information from Mrs Rooney’s account.

“Mrs Vardy is responsible for the secret passing on if the information that is the subject of this case.”

David Sherborne said that Rebekah Vardy's case has changed since her original claim.

"What was said at the time about possible alternatives is now not put forward by Mrs Vardy and that is because she and Ms Watt concocted a series of lies at the time," he told the court.

The barrister said it was "particularly telling" how Mrs Vardy and Caroline Watt reacted when Coleen Rooney said she suspected someone had leaked an incorrect story about a car crash, arguing they were "spooked".

"It is Mrs Vardy's reaction to this that shows she was responsible for the leaks," Mr Sherborne said.

David Sherborne said Ms Rooney didn’t intend for Rebekah Vardy to receive the abuse she did after posting the accusation online.

He said some of the abusive posts Ms Vardy received were “awful, and not what (Mrs Rooney) intended at all”.

The barrister said there had been a “series of unfortunate or … improbable events” in the case, and that Ms Rooney remained convinced her allegation in the post complained of was true, which is why she has not apologised.

Coleen Rooney’s barrister said the defence’s expert had found geolocation data showed there was no evidence of any “inexplicable devices” accessing Ms Vardy’s Instagram account.

He told the trial: “It has to be Mrs Vardy or Mrs Watt, there is now no alternative candidate put forward.”

Ms Vardy’s barrister Hugh Tomlinson told the court his client was not behind the Secret Wag column in The Sun.

He said: “Mrs Rooney thinks the Secret Wag column is a real life version of Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton, rather than a journalistic invention.”

David Sherborne described what he called a series of "most improbable events" that had affected the disclosure of evidence in the case from Rebekah Vardy and those around her.

This included Caroline Watt's "poor unfortunate phone" falling into the North Sea "within days" of the court ordering that, even though she was not a party to proceedings, it should be searched for disclosure.

"What terrible luck," Mr Sherborne said.

David Sherborne told the court that the trial would hear evidence from Coleen Rooney as well as husband Wayne.

Rooney's cousin Claire Rooney and Mrs Rooney's brother will also provide evidence, he added.

Mr Sherborne explained that the witnesses would say that "Mrs Rooney doesn't have a proactive PR... unlike Mrs Vardy".

"And unlike Mrs Vardy again, she is not so keen to get lots of self-promotion or favourable coverage," he added. "That was the motive, why Mrs Vardy leaked information to The Sun."

Mr Sherborne said witnesses will also explain that Mrs Rooney "didn't tell any of them she was making this sting operation".

He said it was a "surprise" to them when her post accusing Mrs Vardy was made.

Mr Sherborne said the trial would also hear from two independent witnesses - Penny Adaarewa and Harpreet Robinson.

In a skeleton argument submitted to the trial earlier in the hearing, lawyers for Vardy said Mrs Rooney’s post that she had discovered the source of the leak was a “serious attack on Mrs Vardy”.

Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing Mrs Vardy, told the court: “We say this careful investigation was flawed from the start. Because it’s obvious for anybody who knows anything about the operation of social media and I’m sure Mrs Rooney does know something about it.

“The fact someone has an account doesn’t mean they are the only person who accessed it. Mrs Rooney was then dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’. Something that she appears to have revelled in.

“She copied in her mobile phone, we recently discovered, the little photographs people had done making her up as Agatha Christie and so on.”