Wagatha Christie case: Coleen Rooney's legal bill over £1.8m, court hears

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Coleen Rooney claims her legal fees during her high-profile legal battle with Rebekah Vardy came up to over £1.8m, the High Court has been told.

Returning to court two years after the original trial, the women's lawyers have returned to court in a dispute over legal costs.

The case, which gained worldwide attention after it came to court in the summer of 2022, was dubbed "Wagatha Christie" in a nod to the famous British crime novelist and Rooney's detective skills.

The wife of ex-England footballer Wayne Rooney accused Vardy of leaking stories from her private Instagram account to The Sun newspaper.

She did so via a social media post in 2019 which went viral, receiving over 370,000 engagements on Twitter, including almost 50,000 retweets.

Vardy then sued Rooney over the post, with the case heard over nine days at the High Court in 2022, ultimately losing the legal action.

The judge overseeing the case, Mrs Justice Steyn, found the post to be "substantially true", and ordered Vardy to pay 90% of Rooney's legal costs.

After winning the case, Rooney said it should never have gone to court "when the money could have been far better spent helping others".

In the latest development in the case, Vardy's lawyers say Rooney has claimed a legal bill totalling £1,833,906.89. They say part of those costs are fees for a five-star hotel and swanky restaurant.

Rebekah Vardy with husband Jamie outside the High Court

Some of the costs claimed labelled 'extraordinary'

In written submissions for a hearing on Monday, Jamie Carpenter KC, who is representing Vardy, described a bill for a lawyer staying "at the Nobu Hotel, incurring substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges".

He said: "The costs dispute has been rendered particularly intractable by the sheer magnitude of the costs claimed by Mrs Rooney, in absolute terms and when compared to her agreed costs budget, the number of errors in the bill and the extraordinary nature of some of the costs claimed.

"The bill, drawn at 100% of the costs claimed... totals £1,833,906.89."

Mr Carpenter said the bill was "drawn without sufficient care" and had "a 'kitchen sink' approach", and included "over £120,000 of costs to which Mrs Rooney has no entitlement".

Working on Christmas Day

Earlier this year, Rooney's lawyers challenged parts of Vardy's legal bill of around £325,000, of which 20% will have to be paid by Rooney.

They called Vardy's costs, which included payment for her trial barrister, Hugh Tomlinson KC, to work on Christmas Day "unreasonable and disproportionate".