Vardy agrees to pay £1.2m of Rooney's Wagatha costs

Rebekah Vardy has agreed to pay a substantial sum of nearly £1.2m towards Coleen Rooney's legal costs, following the conclusion of their highly publicised "Wagatha Christie" libel case.

- CALLUM PARKE

A specialist costs court had previously heard that Ms Rooney, wife of former England footballer Wayne Rooney, accrued legal fees exceeding £1.8m in successfully defending the claim brought against her by Ms Vardy in 2022.

In written submissions for a hearing yesterday, Ms Vardy’s barrister, Juliet Wells, said that Ms Rooney’s total legal bill of £1,833,906.89 “has now been settled at £1,190,000, being c. £1,125,000 plus interest of c.£65.000”.

Ms Wells continued that Ms Rooney is now claiming additional “assessment costs” of more than £300,000, which she described as “grossly disproportionate” and should be capped at “no more than £100,000”.

Lawyers for Ms Rooney said in written submissions that Ms Vardy was “the author of her own misfortune” and that she should “reflect upon her approach”.

The full amount of the assessment costs will be determined at the hearing before Judge Mark Whalan, who said he was “pleased” that the two sides had come to an agreement after a “hard-fought” legal battle.