Johnny Depp has been refused permission to bring an appeal against a damning High Court ruling that he assaulted ex-wife Amber Heard and left her in ‘fear for her life’.
Following a bombshell three-week trial in July last year, Mr Justice Nicol dismissed the Hollywood star’s libel claim against the publisher of The Sun, finding that an April 2018 column calling Mr Depp a ‘wife beater’ was ‘substantially true’.
The judge ruled Mr Depp, 57, assaulted Ms Heard, 34, on a dozen occasions and put her in ‘fear for her life’ three times.
The actor asked the Court of Appeal to grant permission for him to challenge the ruling, with the aim of having its findings overturned and a second trial. However, two Appeal judges rejected his bid today.
Last week, new hate-filled texts Mr Depp sent about Ms Heard were revealed to the court, with the Pirates of the Caribbean star saying he ‘wouldn’t touch that f***ing wh*** with a Hazmat suit on’ in a rant about his ex-wife’s claims to have donated her divorce settlement to charity.
Hollywood star Johnny Depp, pictured, went to the Court of Appeal over his recent High Court defeat over allegations that he had assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard
The High Court in London was told that Amber Heard, pictured last July, was in fear of her life. Mr Justice Nichol found a story that claimed Depp had assaulted his ex-wife was ‘substantially true’
The High Court libel case heard a string of claims about the nature of Depp’s relationship with his ex-wife Amber Heard, left, and was nicknamed the trial of the century
Announcing the ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Lord Justice Underhill said: ‘We refuse Mr Depp’s application to admit further evidence in support of his proposed appeal and we conclude that the appeal has no real prospect of success and that there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard.
‘We accordingly refuse permission to appeal.’
In a statement after the ruling, a spokeswoman for The Sun said: ‘The Sun had every confidence that this leave to appeal application would not be granted and are pleased with today’s decision.
‘The case had a full, fair and proper hearing, and today’s decision vindicates the courageous evidence that Amber Heard gave to the court about domestic abuse, despite repeated attempts to undermine and silence her by the perpetrator.
‘The Sun will continue to stand up and campaign for victims of domestic abuse.’
At a hearing last week, Mr Depp’s lawyers asked the court to consider fresh evidence relating to what they said was Ms Heard’s claim that she gave her seven million US dollar (£5.5 million) divorce settlement to charity.
During the trial Heard showed bruises she claimed were inflicted by Depp as he allegedly smashed her iPhone in her face at her LA home in May 2016 – a month after Depp claimed Heard ‘defecated’ in their marital bed after her 30th birthday
His barrister Andrew Caldecott QC told the court that claim was a ‘calculated and manipulative lie’.
After the couple divorced in 2016, Ms Heard said she would split the seven million dollars between the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
But, Mr Caldecott said, the hospital wrote to Mr Depp’s business adviser in 2019 to say Ms Heard had not made ‘any payments’.
Last week, the Court of Appeal hearing heard how Mr Depp lashed out in a 2016 text to his nurse after Ms Heard said she was donating the settlement to charity.
Mr Depp wrote at the time: ‘No Way she’ll give a dime to anyone!!! Thank f*** she’s gone!!! Makes me sick to think of how hard I tried to make it work… Now… Honestly, I wouldn’t touch that f***ing wh*** with a Hazmat suit on!!! What scum. I f***ing hate her!!!’
The court heard $100,000 (£72,000) was donated to the hospital and $450,000 (£322,000) to the ACLU, although Ms Heard claims she made a further $500,000 (£358,000) donation to the second charity anonymously.
Mr Caldecott said the claims had given Ms Heard ‘a considerable boost to her credibility as a person’, and had ‘tipped the scales against Mr Depp from the very beginning’.
But Adam Wolanski QC, representing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), said the new evidence Mr Depp wanted to rely on ‘would not have had any impact’ on the result of the trial.
He also rejected Mr Depp’s contention that Ms Heard had lied about donating her divorce settlement to charity, saying: ‘The information does not demonstrate that Ms Heard lied.’
Mr Wolanski added that Ms Heard had paid ‘in total, some $ 950,000 to the ACLU and $850,000 to the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’.
Supporters of Johnny Depp, one dressed as Edward Scissorhands played by Depp in the Tim Burton 1990 film of the same name, stood outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London last month
Mr Depp sued NGN in June 2018 over the column by The Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton, which referred to ‘overwhelming evidence’ he attacked Ms Heard.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Nicol concluded 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of domestic violence relied on by NGN in its defence of the actor’s claim did occur.
The judge also found Mr Depp put Ms Heard in ‘fear for her life’ on three occasions, including one the actress described as a ‘three-day hostage situation’ in Australia in March 2015.
Days after the ruling in November, Mr Depp announced he had been asked by Warner Brothers to resign from his role in the Harry Potter spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts – a role that prompted Mr Wootton to ask how JK Rowling could be ‘genuinely happy’ that Mr Depp was cast in the film.
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Mr Depp is embroiled in a separate libel battle in the US, having sued Ms Heard personally over a 2018 Washington Post opinion piece in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse but did not mention the actor by name.
The actor’s 50 million dollar (£35 million) US case against Ms Heard was recently delayed until April 2022.
Lord Justice Dingemans (left) and Lord Justice Underhill heard the appeal. They said the court would give its ruling at a later date
