Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Vardy v Rooney: Truth defence succeeds, public interest fails—inferential fact finding, source protection and loss of evidence in High Court defamation (England and Wales)

Published on: 08 August 2022

Published by a LexisNexis TMT expert

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Article summary

Vardy v Rooney and another [2022] EWHC 2017 (QB)

What are the practical implications of this case?

This decision will attract attention as a concrete application of the truth defence, and for Steyn J’s conclusion that the public interest defence failed. It also clarifies the contours of the defences advanced in modern media litigation before the court. It further demonstrates the court’s readiness to make inferential findings of fact where:

primary evidence is absent, or has been intentionally lost or destroyed
journalists move to set aside witness summonses and disclosure orders by relying on source protection: see section 10 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, and where waivers of source protection under that provision have been given (Mrs Vardy) or given and then withdrawn (Ms Watt)
Mrs Vardy did not witness‑summon her ‘close friend and agent’, Ms Watt, who was by any measure a crucial witness; instead, she sought to use Ms Watt’s trial witness statement as hearsay
there is a pattern of dealings with the press, including a significant relationship between a celebrity and a particular tabloid title

What was the background?

The factual narrative in this matter has been widely rehearsed in the mainstream press. However, in...

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