Rebekah Vardy's explicit texts revealed in court battle with Coleen Rooney

Messages detailing Rebekah Vardy's feud with Coleen Rooney were read out in court as the latest stage of their legal battle over leaked stories got underway on Tuesday.

However, Rooney's legal team allege that other messages disclosed to the court show Vardy and Watt had an ongoing relationship with The Sun. One message from the agent allegedly stated, "It was me (who leaked)", in relation to one January 2019 story. Vardy has accepted she took payments from the publication but denies they were for the leaks.

The footballers' wives' rivalry was made public in 2019 when Rooney accused her former friend of leaking stories about her and husband Wayne Rooney to The Sun newspaper. Vardy, the wife of Leicester City star Jamie Vardy, sued Rooney over the allegations - with the case reaching the High Court.

In a series of WhatsApp messages to her former agent Caroline Watt, the model branded Rooney a "c***", a "nasty b**ch*" and "such a d**k" as well as stating she would "love" to be the one who was leaking the stories.

In one of the missives, Vardy wrote, "Someone on her Instagram regularly sells stories on her. Bet it's their PR again, has to be."

However, Vardy's lawyer Hugh Tomlinson claimed the WhatsApp messages "demonstrate beyond doubt that she was not responsible for leaking private information".

According to The Sun, he said, "Such messages include Ms Vardy's shocked reaction when she first discovered that Ms Rooney suspected her of leaking stories."

Rooney was dubbed 'Wagatha Christie' on social media after she planted fake news on a private Instagram account to find out who was leaking stories. She alleges her rival was the only person to view the posts.

Her barrister David Sherborne previously claimed Vardy leaked information to the press either directly or through Watt.

The court also heard that key messages relating to the case may be unrecoverable for a variety of reasons, including Watt dropping her phone into the North Sea, and Vardy's husband's WhatsApp being hacked.

The libel case is due to go to trial later this year.