WARRING wags Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy will hold peace talks early next month, we can reveal.
The pair will go head-to-head in a bid to agree to a last-minute settlement aimed at avoiding their so-called Wagatha Christie libel trial.
A mediator has been chosen to chair the tense talks which are likely to take place over Zoom amid the ongoing Covid lockdown.
Dancing on Ice’s Becky, 38, wife of Leicester City ace Jamie, 33, has vowed to clear her name after she was accused of leaking stories.
Coleen, 34, whose hubby is ex-England and Manchester United legend Wayne, 34, has told pals she will defend Becky’s libel action.
Sources say they hold out little hope of the talks bearing fruit.
One said: “Coleen is determined to see this through to the bitter end. She hasn’t once wavered.
“If Becky expects her to apologise she will be waiting a long time.
“She has no intention of giving in. And Becky is adamant that she will clear her name.
“At the moment they’re digging in. It’ll take something seismic for this to come to an end without it needing to go to court.”
Coleen is already 2-0 down in their bitter dispute.
At the end of last year a judge ruled in Becky’s favour as the wags locked horns over the meaning of Coleen’s now infamous October 2019 post.
The post detailed her detective work to identify the source of the leak.
Coleen argued that she was merely setting out the reasonable grounds she had to suspect Becky of handing information to The Press.
But Mr Justice Warby said the carefully considered message directly pointed the finger at mum-of-five Becky.
Coleen is determined to see this through to the bitter end. She hasn’t once wavered.
A source
His ruling means Coleen must now prove that Becky alone was responsible for the leaks if she is to successfully defend the lawsuit.
In a further blow she was ordered to pay Becky’s £22,913.50 legal costs for the hearing.
In their latest statement, a spokesman for Coleen said: “A number of people have been in touch with Coleen to offer support and information.
“She remains as confident as she always has been of winning her case, should it ever reach a full court hearing – something she has never wanted.”
Charlotte Harris, of Becky’s legal firm Kingsley Napley, said: “The simple fact is that Rebekah Vardy did not leak Coleen Rooney’s private Instagram posts to the Sun and nothing can change that.
“This case will be resolved through the proper legal process.”
The row kicked off in October 2019 when Coleen told her millions of social media followers she had turned detective after suspecting stories were being leaked.
She revealed that she had blocked all but one account from her private Instagram feed.
She said: “After a long time of trying to figure out who it could be, for various reasons, I had a suspicion.”
Coleen claimed she then posted a string of false stories to see if they would be published, which they were.
All the stories which were subsequently printed in The Sun were put to Coleen’s representatives for comment.
She then said the fake stories she planted had only been viewed by one person on Instagram, and ended dramatically: “It’s … Rebekah Vardy’s account.”
Becky denies being the leak and is seeking aggravated damages for libel and costs.
She also wants an injunction against Coleen and her team from publishing the information again.
