'Wagatha Christie' offers her side in whodunnit libel case

The woman known to British tabloid readers as Wagatha Christie has testified about the sleuthing techniques that led to her nickname

LONDON -- The woman known to British tabloid readers as Wagatha Christie testified Monday about the sleuthing techniques that led to her nickname, saying she posted fake news about herself on social media as a ruse to discover who was leaking stories about her family to the press.

The testimony from Coleen Rooney, wife of English soccer hero Wayne Rooney, came in the fifth day of a libel trial at the High Court in London that pits her against the wife of another soccer star. With the wives and girlfriends of top players —known here as WAGs for short — Rooney became known as Wagatha Christie soon after the story of her detective work became headline news. The nickname is a tabloid homage to the detective novelist Agatha Christie.

Rooney posted false information about herself on Instagram after blocking all of her followers except the suspected leaker. Then she waited to see if any of the stories appeared in print — and they did.

“I wanted the story to run so I had evidence,” Rooney testified. “I didn’t want the story out there. I wanted it for my own evidence.”