Wagatha: A luxury hotel, a mini-bar and a row that keeps rumbling on

A row over a luxury hotel, a mini-bar tab and two women who just cannot seem to agree.

Yes, you guessed it. Wagatha Christie is back.

The dispute between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy returned to court this week, exactly five years after the viral social media post that sparked their high-profile libel battle.

During the High Court trial in 2022, the world’s media watched on, gripped by details of a whodunit worthy of author Agatha Christie.

Rooney had accused her fellow footballer’s wife of leaking private information about her to the press, and eventually emerged victorious.

Vardy was ordered to pay 90% of her rival’s legal costs, which now stand at more than £1.8m.

This week, the showdown returned to court as Vardy tried to reduce that bill.

It’s a saga worthy of a soap opera, and one that taps into Brits’ fascination with the Wags (wives and girlfriends) of footballers. It has already spawned multiple documentaries. And it’s not over yet.

“We’ll be back again at some point next year for an excruciating line-by-line process of going through the costs,” says media lawyer Jonathan Coad, who has followed the case from the start.

“It’s ridiculous,” he adds. “It’s the last place you want to end up.”

Here is what we learned after another week of the now infamous Wagatha row.

This week’s hearing was a “close-run thing”, but in the end, “the winner appears to be Coleen again”, says Coad.

Vardy’s barrister argued there were various reasons why the amount of money she has to pay should be reduced.

But in a ruling on Tuesday, senior costs judge Andrew Gordon-Saker dismissed a number of Vardy’s claims.

He found that Rooney’s legal team had not committed any misconduct, but reached that decision “on balance and, I have to say, only just”. However, that meant it was “not an appropriate case” to reduce the amount of money that Vardy should pay.

The following day, the judge ordered Vardy to pay Rooney £100,000 this month.

That is not additional to what she already owes. Vardy has already paid £800,000 so far, and the £100,000 is a further payment towards the eventual total bill.

“Vardy took a risk. It hasn’t worked, and now she’s come away paying another £100,000,” says Coad.

Neither woman showed up this time

In 2022, the world’s media descended on London as Rooney and Vardy, flanked by their husbands, arrived at the High Court.

Even the US press were gripped, as they tried to make sense of why two “soccer wives” were going head-to-head.

This week, neither woman showed up, leaving their barristers to fight it out for them.

Naturally, that meant less of a media circus outside the court. And inside, where I was, there were fewer fireworks than last time.

Britain’s tabloids still had a field day, of course. The headline of the week surely goes to Metro, which dubbed the whole affair “Wagatha Thrifty”.

But the tenor of this hearing was much more muted. There was no cross-examination, and the arguments were less incendiary – although the two KCs did still have a decent fight.

Cost hearings are dry at the best of times. Even with the famous names involved, there is only so excited anyone can get about the intricate details of chargeable rates.