Coleen and Wayne Rooney treat son Kit, 9, to a Harry Potter tour as they visit iconic Hertfordshire studio after finally ending bitter Wagatha Christie libel battle with Rebekah Vardy

Daily Mail​

07-05-2025

Once upon a time it was Wayne Rooney and his mercurial talents that left fans spellbound, but on Tuesday it was the former footballer on the receiving end of some top class wizadary during a day out with the family.
The Manchester United and England legend accompanied wife Coleen and son Kit as they travelled to Hertfordshire for the Warner Brothers Studio Tour - a behind the scenes look at the making of Harry Potter.
Featuring detailed set reconstructions, costumes from the iconic film franchise and an array of props previously used by cast-members, the tour appeared to go down well with Rooney's as they took to Instagram later that day.
Voicing her approval, Coleen, 39, wrote: 'What a fantastic day @wbtourlondon… Thank you so much for looking after us, everything was amazing.'
The mother-of-four accompanied the post with a photo of herself, husband Wayne, 39, and nine-year old son Kit - who was appropriately dressed in a Hogwarts uniform - outside the sprawling Leavesdon studio space.
Their day out comes after the Wagatha Christie libel battle between Coleen and Rebekah Vardy came to an end, more than five years since the viral social media post at the heart of the dispute.
The wife of Rooney's former England teammate Jamie Vardy sued Coleen at the High Court over alleged 'very serious harm to her reputation' as a result of the latter's October 2019 post, which claimed Vardy's Instagram account was responsible for leaking information about her to The Sun newspaper.
After a seven-day trial, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled in Mrs Rooney's favour in July 2022, finding it was 'likely' that Vardy's agent, Caroline Watt, had passed information to The Sun and that Vardy ' knew of and condoned this behaviour' and had 'actively' engaged.
The pair were then engaged in a battle over legal costs for almost three years, potentially culminating on Tuesday when a specialist costs court was told that Vardy had agreed to pay almost £1.2 million of Coleen's legal costs, with a judge also ruling she must pay an additional £212,000.
The case began in October 2019, when Coleen publicly claimed Vardy's Instagram account was the source behind three stories featuring fake details she had posted on her private Instagram profile – including travelling to Mexico for a 'gender selection' procedure, planning to return to TV, and the basement flooding at her home.
Coleen wrote: I have saved and screenshotted all the original stories which clearly show just one person has viewed them.
'It's …… Rebekah Vardy's account.'
The case first went to court in November 2020, with a judge finding that Coleen's post 'clearly identified' Vardy as being 'guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust '.
Vardy was ordered to pay 90 percent of Coleen's (pictured) legal bills after she sensationally lost the libel case which accused her of leaking stories about Wayne Rooney 's wife to the press
On the first day of the trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in May 2022, Hugh Tomlinson KC, for Vardy, said the TV personality had to bring the libel claim to 'vindicate her reputation'.
In written submissions, David Sherborne, for Coleen, said: 'In short, the claimant is someone who has secretly provided, or sought to provide, to the press private information which she has been privy to in relation to a number of individuals in the footballing world or other celebrities, and not just the defendant, without their consent.'
Both women gave evidence in the trial, as well as Coleen's husband.
In July that year, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled it was 'likely' that Vardy's agent at the time, Ms Watt, 'undertook the direct act' of passing the information to The Sun.
But 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.'
In October that year, the same judge ruled that Vardy should pay 90% of Coleen's costs, including an initial payment of £800,000.
In a now legendary Instagram post, Rooney accused Vardy's social media account of leaking stories
At a hearing in October 2024, a specialist costs court was told Coleen's legal bill totalled more than £1.8 million, although a previous court hearing had been told it was around £1.6 million.
Jamie Carpenter KC, for Vardy, criticised the size of the bill, claiming it had a 'kitchen sink approach'.
He also said Coleen's lawyers had committed 'serious misconduct' by 'deliberately understating' some of her costs, which meant Vardy should pay less.
Robin Dunne, for Coleen, said there had 'been no misconduct' and that Vardy had shown 'deplorable conduct' in the case.
Senior Costs Judge Andrew Gordon-Saker found that Coleen's lawyers had not committed misconduct, and also ordered Vardy to pay a further £100,000 to Mrs Rooney.
Vardy then appealed against that finding, but High Court judge Mr Justice Cavanagh rejected the challenge in April.
The full assessment of the total amount Vardy was due to pay Coleen began on Tuesday, and was initially expected to last up to 10 days.
But, at the start of the hearing, the court was told the pair have agreed to settle the bill.
Barrister Juliet Wells told the hearing that Vardy has agreed to pay £1.19 million of Coleen's legal bill, including VAT, which comprises around £1.12 million in costs and around £65,000 in interest.
But she said Coleen is also claiming £315,000 in 'assessment costs' – the costs of assessing the full legal bill – which she said is 'grossly disproportionate'.
Dunne, again appearing for Coleen, said the figure 'is higher than would have been the case had Vardy approached these costs proceedings reasonably'.
Costs Judge Mark Whalan ruled it was 'reasonable and proportionate' for Vardy to pay £212,266.20 of Coleen's assessment costs, inclusive of VAT but before interest, on top of the £1.19 million settlement, totalling at least £1,402,266.20.
Concluding the hearing, he said he was 'generally happy' that the outcome was a 'commercially satisfactory conclusion for both sides', but that there had been 'extraordinary expenditure of costs' by the parties.