Rebekah Vardy could have grounds to sue Coleen Rooney over the story leak scandal, a lawyer claims.
Coleen accused fellow WAG Rebekah on Wednesday after she set up a elaborate ploy to find out who was selling stories from her private Instagram account.
As sources close to Rebakah reveal she is working with IT experts who can look at the forensics of her Instagram, a lawyer explained she could take Coleen to court if she can prove she wasn’t the individual behind the leak.
Going to court? Rebekah Vardy could have grounds to sue Coleen Rooney over the story leak scandal, a lawyer claims
Coleen released a statement on Wednesday, accusing Rebekah of leaking fake stories about her to The Sun.
She had shared them on her private Instagram, but blocked all her friends from viewing them except Rebekah’s account, in order to get conclusive proof of a betrayal.
Rebekah has denied she was the one to leak the stories and has since called in legal advice and IT experts to see which of the several people who have access to her account could have spoken to the press.
War of the WAGs: Coleen accused fellow WAG Rebekah on Wednesday after she set up a elaborate ploy to find out who was selling stories from her private Instagram account
Speaking on Thursday’s Victoria Derbyshire Show, lawyer Phil Sherrell from the firm Bird and Bird, who has not worked with Rooney or Vardy, explained what Rebekah’s next move could be.
Referring to Coleen’s original social media post, Sherrell said: ‘The question here is what does the person reading that tweet and Instagram post think she is saying?
‘Is she saying it is Rebekah? Or is she saying it is Rebekah’s account? When I read that, although the end bit talks about it being the account, there’s a couple of uses of the word “person” beforehand, I think there’s a good argument that is saying it is Rebekah, or at least very likely it is Rebekah.
Legal action: As sources close to Rebakah reveal she is working with IT experts, a lawyer explained she could take Coleen to court if she can prove she wasn’t the one behind the leak
The full statement: Coleen made these claims on Instagram after discovering she had been betrayed by someone close to her, concluding that it was Rebekah’s account
‘At that point, Rebekah has a claim. But where does that take her? That takes her to court where we will establish if it’s true or not.’
He went on: ‘Everything on the internet is traceable to an individual, so we will be able to find out one way or another whether this was someone using Rebekah’s account without permission, or if it was her with the data behind it.’
Victoria asked: ‘So you can pinpoint exactly how you can find out who has had access to your account?’
‘I don’t need the money’: Rebekah denied all accusations against her minutes after the post and said she had nothing to gain and had no financial motivation
To which Phil replied: ‘Yes, Rebekah will be able to go to Instagram and ask “which time and date my Instagram was accessed,” they will say for example, “10am on this Monday and someone accessed your account using this broadband account, say BT.”‘
He added: ‘So then we will go to BT and ask for the address that had that account, so we will get an address and get down to a person in a house.
‘And it’s true, with everything on the internet, if you look hard enough you can find out who it is.’
An insider exclusively told MailOnline on Wednesday night that ‘Rebekah wants to prove she had nothing to do with the leaked stories and is working with a lawyer and IT experts who can look at the forensics of her Instagram, which several people have access to.’
They added: ‘Rebekah has been incredibly stressed and hasn’t stopped sobbing all day, which is very out of character for her.
‘The whole situation has left her distraught and she still doesn’t understand why Coleen didn’t reach out to her first to ask her outright about the issue.
‘She’s flying home early from Dubai as she feels her time abroad has been spoilt and all she wants is to be surrounded by family.
A spokesman for Coleen said: ‘It is irrefutable that the leaks came from one account, and one account only.’