Rebekah Vardy was quizzed over an interview in which she claimed Peter Andre was “hung like small chipolata” as the court case dubbed Wagatha Christie began on Tuesday.

In a viral social media post in October 2019, Mrs Rooney, 36, said she had carried out a “sting operation” and accused Mrs Vardy, 40, of leaking “false stories” about her private life to the press.

The wife of former England star Wayne Rooney was dubbed “Wagatha Christie” when she publicly claimed an account behind three fake stories she had posted on her personal Instagram account with The Sun newspaper was Mrs Vardy’s.

Mrs Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her fellow footballer’s wife for libel, while Mrs Rooney is defending the claim on the basis her post was “substantially true”.

Both women arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday for the first day of a seven-day trial of the legal action, with Mrs Vardy attending flanked by security while Mrs Rooney arrived with her husband also 36, who also played for Everton and Manchester United and now manages Derby County.

Outlining Mrs Rooney’s defence case on Tuesday afternoon, her barrister David Sherborne told Mrs Justice Steyn, who is hearing the trial: “In essence, this is a detective story, and like any good detective story, you never find a person standing over the body with a smoking gun.”

Rebekah Vardy quizzed on sexual relationship with Peter Andre

Rebekah Vardy has repeatedly denied leaking information to newspapers in the first few minutes of her cross-examination by Mrs Rooney’s barrister.

David Sherborne said: “You wouldn’t want to be called a leaker, would you?”

Mrs Vardy replied: “I have been called a leaker and it’s not nice.”

The barrister later asked if Mrs Vardy respected people’s privacy, to which she replied: “Yes, I do.”

Sherborne then asked Rebekah Vardy questions about an interview she gave to the News Of The World about Mrs Vardy’s claimed sexual encounter with singer Peter Andre.

Mr Sherborne showed what appeared to an A3 print out of the article to Mrs Vardy in the witness box before reading the headline: “Peter’s hung like a small chipolata, shaved, slobbery, lasts five minutes”.

The barrister read excerpts from the article, in which it was claimed Mr Andre had managed “just five minutes of sex with Rebekah” and in which she said he had “the smallest trouser equipment I’ve ever seen” that was like a “miniature chipolata”.

Mr Sherborne suggested to Mrs Vardy that the News Of The World was the “highest circulating newspaper at the time”, read by some four million people.

Rebekah Vardy was asked whether it was “respectful” of Peter Andre’s “right not to share this information” about their sexual encounter with a newspaper.

She replied: “I was forced into a situation by my ex-husband to do this. It is something that I deeply regret… It is not nice to read and I understand why this is being used and to me this is mudslinging and I was also threatened with mudslinging by Mrs Rooney’s team.”

Asked the question again by Coleen Rooney’s barrister David Sherborne, Mrs Vardy said: “The circumstances around it were completely different.”

She later said she did not ask Mr Andre for his permission or tell him it was going to happen in advance.

Mr Sherborne asked: “Did you feel particularly strongly about the size of his manhood that it should be made public?”

Mrs Vardy replied: “It was something that I was forced to say.”