Rebekah Vardy loses Wagatha Christie libel trial against Coleen Rooney.

Mrs Vardy sued Mrs Rooney after she was accused of leaking “false stories” to the press.

However, in her ruling, Mrs Justice Steyn said it was “likely” that Mrs Vardy’s agent at the time, Caroline Watt, “undertook the direct act” of passing the information to the Sun.

The judge found:

• Vardy knew of and condoned the fact her agent at the time was leaking stories
• Vardy ‘actively engaged’ in the behaviour, sending her agent screenshots of private Instagram posts
• Vardy also helped with queries about the stories when questions were raised by media

She added: “Nonetheless, the evidence … clearly shows, in my view, that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it by directing Ms Watt to the private Instagram account, sending her screenshots of Mrs Rooney’s posts, drawing attention to items of potential interest to the press, and answering additional queries raised by the press via Ms Watt.

The judge added: “In my judgment, the conclusions that I have reached as to the extent to which the claimant engaged in disclosing to The Sun information to which she only had access as a permitted follower of an Instagram account which she knew, and Mrs Rooney repeatedly asserted, was private, suffice to show the single meaning is substantially true.”

Mrs Justice Steyn said that Rebekah Vardy had faced “vile abuse” from members of the public following Coleen Rooney’s post.

She said: “Some members of the public have responded to the reveal post by subjecting Mrs Vardy to vile abuse, including messages wishing her, her family, and even her then-unborn baby, ill in the most awful terms.

“Nothing of which Mrs Vardy has been accused, nor any of the findings in this judgment, provide any justification or excuse for subjecting her or her family, or any other person involved in this case, to such vitriol.”

Mrs Vardy is expected to be saddled with a legal bill of nearly £3m after the judge ruled against her.