From an elaborate social media sting operation to claims of purposefully deleted digital evidence, the Wagatha Christie case had data at its forefront.
Between Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy, the wives of former England footballers Wayne and Jamie, the case gained mass media coverage from the start. But how important was data in this case? And how did potential data spoliation slow down proceedings? This article will analyse the importance of preserving electronically stored information in legal matters.
The Wagatha Christie case first came to fruition in 2019, following a viral social media post by Coleen Rooney. She claimed Rebekah Vardy had been leaking personal stories from Rooney’s private Instagram account to The Sun newspaper.
Rooney’s claim was based on a sting operation which saw her block all other followers from viewing her Instagram Stories besides one account — Rebekah Vardy’s.
Rooney then claimed via social media that she had posted a ‘series of false stories’ to her account to see if they would make it into the newspaper. ‘And you know what, they did,’ she wrote in her statement.