Rebekah loses bid to have Coleen Rooney’s Wagatha court costs slashed

After Coleen shockingly lost the libel action, Rebekah, 42, was ordered to pay 90% of her cost, including an initial payment of £800,000.

The court heard that Team Coleen’s costs totaled £1,833,906.89, more than three times her “agreed costs budget of £540,779.07”.

Her attorney Jamie Carpenter KC accused Coleen’s team of “deliberately deceiving” the court by underestimating the expenses and time required to complete the case.

Coleen, 38, was able to “use the apparent difference in incurred costs to attack the other party’s costs” because of this, he said. Mr Carpenter also accused Coleen’s team of adopting a “kitchen sink approach” when calculating the total. He claimed the bill included costs for one of Coleen’s team to stay at the five-star Nobu Hotel.

It also included “substantial dinner and drinks charges as well as mini bar charges”, the lawyer said. But Robin Dunne, for Coleen, argued it was “frankly outrageous” to accuse them of dishonesty.

He also said Rebekah had shown “deplorable conduct” in the case and and costs could have been lower if “she conducted this litigation appropriately”.

The lawyer added: “This was a libel claim which Mrs Vardy chose to launch, despite knowing that the Instagram post was true.

“Mrs Vardy refused to engage with Mrs Rooney to try and avoid these proceedings and by her conduct meant that significant additional costs were required to be incurred by Mrs Rooney.