16h 15min, apr 8, 2020 y - DAILY MAIL Amber Heard's 'sexual violence' evidence against Johnny Depp will be kept secret in his libel claim against The Sun despite him arguing claims should be made public

Description:

Amber Heard's 'sexual violence' evidence against Johnny Depp will be kept secret in his libel claim against The Sun despite him arguing claims should be made public

* Amber Heard, 33, is to give evidence at Johnny Depp's libel trial at High Court
* Depp, 56, is suing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers for 2018 article
* In it the tabloid's executive editor Dan Wootton called him a 'wife-beater'
* At a Skype hearing on Wednesday the judge ruled Ms Heard's evidence relating to allegations of sexual violence will be heard in private at forthcoming trial

By ROSS IBBETSON FOR MAILONLINE

Amber Heard's 'sexual violence' evidence against Johnny Depp will be kept secret at his libel trial against The Sun newspaper despite him arguing that the claims be made public.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing the tabloid's publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which referred to the 56-year-old as a 'wife-beater'.

A two-week trial was due to start in London on March 25 at which the actor, Ms Heard, 33, and a number of Hollywood figures would have had to give evidence, but it was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a remote Skype hearing on Wednesday, Mr Justice Nicol ruled part of Ms Heard's evidence relating to allegations of sexual violence will be heard in private during the forthcoming trial.

He made his ruling following an application by lawyers for NGN, saying the orders sought by the publishers were 'necessary and proportionate'.

Mr Justice Nicol said: 'I stress that nothing in this judgment will pre-judge the issues that I will have to decide at trial. Neither party will be disadvantaged by the fact that part of the trial will take place in private.

'Either in public, or in private, the claimant (Mr Depp) will have a full opportunity, so far as is proper, to challenge the evidence of Ms Heard by cross-examination.'

NGN's counsel Adam Wolanski QC told the court Ms Heard, who is a defence witness in the case, had said she found the prospect of having to give evidence in public on the confidential matters 'terrifying'.

He said: 'Your lordship will know this case has generated a great deal of publicity already and one of Ms Heard's concerns... is that she has been the subject of a great deal of vilification in the press, in particular on social media.

'She is very concerned that the nature of these allegations is such that that would be the case if this confidential material is reported.'

David Sherborne, for Mr Depp, argued that allegations Ms Heard has made of both sexual and physical violence against her former husband - which Mr Depp vehemently denies - have been published previously and aired in open court.

He said Ms Heard was 'no ordinary witness', adding: 'She has consistently promoted herself as a victim... and characterised her allegations as being not just about physical abuse, but sexual violence.'

Mr Sherborne said Ms Heard has 'promoted herself as an activist' during an appearance before the United Nations General Assembly, which took place in 2019, and in an opinion article for the Washington Post, which is the subject of separate libel proceedings by Mr Depp in the US.

However, Mr Justice Nicol found the part of her evidence which will remain confidential was 'of a different order' to allegations already in the public domain.

The exact nature of the allegations was not disclosed to the press or public and remain unknown.

The libel claim against NGN and Mr Wootton arises out of publication of an article in The Sun in April 2018, under the headline 'Gone Potty - How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?'

Mr Depp has brought separate libel proceedings against Ms Heard in the US, which the court has previously heard are 'ongoing'.

A spokeswoman for Ms Heard said: 'We welcome Mr Justice Nicol's decision to allow evidence relating to 'sexual violence' to be heard in closed court.

'There is simply no reason for such sensitive evidence to be exposed to the world's press.

'We are pleased that the court made this order despite Mr Depp's troubling argument that Amber should not benefit from the right to privacy in relation to sexual violence, because of her public association with the #metoo movement and her advocacy for victims of sexual violence at the United Nations.'

The former couple met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2011, married four years later but split in May 2016 amid a slew of blood-curdling domestic violence allegations and tabloid headlines.

They looked to have put their feud behind them after agreeing to a $7 million (£5.5 million) divorce settlement in 2017 until Ms Heard wrote her Washington Post article in December 2018 about being a domestic abuse victim.

The article did not mention Mr Depp by name but he filed a $50 million (£40 million) defamation suit in Virginia in March 2019, saying it led to speculation that he was the abuser and caused him to lose the role of Captain Jack Sparrow.

'Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse; she is a perpetrator,' Mr Depp's US suit claimed.

'She hit, punched and kicked me. She also repeatedly and frequently threw objects into my body and head, including heavy bottles, soda cans, burning candles, television remote controls and paint thinner cans, which severely injured me.'

The American lawsuit is due to be heard in August.

Mr Depp has always argued that he was the victim of an 'elaborate hoax' instigated by his ex-wife, who 'faked' her injuries with makeup after a blowout May 2016 fight that finally ended their toxic marriage.

Ms Heard responded with a lurid 300-page filing of her own, cataloging the 'horrific' abuse she claims to have suffered at Mr Depp's hands, describing him as 'the monster' and recalling many of the allegations she made during their divorce.

The filing included photos of bruises and scars, clumps of hair apparently torn from Ms Heard's head and pictures of smashed up furniture to illustrate the violence she was allegedly subjected to.

Ms Heard had a restraining order slapped on Mr Depp following an altercation on May 27, 2016, during which she claimed the actor threw a cellphone at her face at their downtown Los Angeles condominium.

Ms Heard claimed police had evidence of the attack but two LAPD officers later said in a deposition that they found nothing to suggest a crime took place.

DailyMail.com obtained exclusive tape recordings which were made in 2015, around a year before the alleged fight, as the pair tried to talk through their caustic marriage problems.

Their heart-to-heart quickly descends into bickering as Ms Heard accuses Mr Depp of taking her for granted, behaving like a 'vacation husband' and 'splitting' every time they have an argument.

Mr Depp complains he's forced to leave when she becomes 'manic and angry', telling Ms Heard: 'I'm not going be in a physical f**king altercation with you... you f**king hit me last night.'

He goes on to add: 'I'm not the one who throws pots and whatever the f**k else at me.'

Ms Heard responds: 'That's different. That's different. One does not negate the other. That's irrelevant, that's a complete non sequitur.

'Just because I've thrown pots and pans does not mean you cannot come and knock on my door. '

When Mr Depp cuts in to suggest he's also had vases hurled at him, she replies: 'Just because there are vases does not mean that you come and knock on the door.'

'Really, I should just let you throw?' Mr Depp replies, tailing off as they carry on sniping.

'The only time I ever threw anything at you was when you f**king threw the cans at me in Australia,' he admits.

Ms Heard asks: 'Why are you trying to justify who throws things based on whether or not you come knocking on the door? I don't get why one informs the other.'

Mr Depp says, raising his voice: 'Because that is a f**king irrational and violent f**king maneuver. So a man would want to get out of that area so that he doesn't get so f**king angry that he actually does pop the f**king wife.'

The exchange doesn't point to any specific event but it has a possible reference to the contentious and bloody incident in which Mr Depp suffered a severed finger one month into their marriage in Australia in March 2015.

Details of that incident were ventilated at the High Court earlier this month, during which NGN's barrister Mr Wolanski QC said Mr Mr Depp lost the top of his finger 'whilst in an alcohol and drug-addled rage against Ms Heard.'

He told the court Ms Heard alleges Mr Depp had 'shoved Ms Heard into a ping-pong table', grabbed her and then 'tore her nightgown' before he 'slammed her against the countertop and strangled her'.

She claims that during the attack, which left her 'scared for her life', Mr Depp 'severely injured his finger, cutting off the top' while he was smashing a telephone against a wall, Mr Wolanski said.

Mr Depp, however, claims Ms Heard threw a glass bottle at him which smashed and fractured his finger before she 'put a cigarette out on the claimant's right cheek'.

Mr Wolanski said there were 'diametrically opposed accounts of what happened' in Australia, and submitted that two 'highly damaging' text messages sent by Mr Depp to his personal doctor, Dr David Kipper, later in March 2015 undermined his account.

One message sent shortly after the incident read: 'I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital... I'm so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her... F*** THE WORLD!!! JD.'

A second message, sent around two weeks later, read: 'Thank you for everything. I have chopped off my left middle finger as a reminder that I should never cut my finger off again. I love you brother. Johnny.'

Mr Wolanski said the texts had been disclosed in a separate libel case between the pair in the US but had only recently been disclosed to NGN's lawyers, which he said demonstrated 'the claimant just cannot be trusted when it comes to disclosure'.

The barrister also said that after another alleged attack, Mr Depp had told Ms Heard 'it was as if there was another personality having done it', which he referred to as 'the monster'.

Mr Wolanski added that Ms Heard said: 'He would blame all his actions on a self-created third-party... he would speak about it as if it was another person or personality.'

He applied for further disclosure of Mr Depp's medical records from a psychiatrist and a relationship counsellor who treated him while he was in a relationship with Ms Heard and when, Mr Wolanski said, 'he was under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs and prescription drugs'.

He added Ms Heard's evidence was that Mr Depp would 'usually when under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but not always, flip and suddenly turn into 'the monster' and it was on those occasions that, she says, he lost control and attacked her'.

Mr Justice Nicol ordered Mr Depp to take further steps to secure evidence from consultations he had with the two doctors.

Adam Waldman, Depp's lawyer, said afterwards: 'Amber Heard and her friends in the media use fake sexual violence allegations as both a sword and shield, depending on their needs.

'They have selected some of her sexual violence hoax 'facts' as the sword, inflicting them on the public and Mr. Depp.

'Today Ms. Heard appropriated important court privacy rules designed to protect real victims as a shield behind which Ms. Heard's most absurd new claims can hide.

'Mr. Depp, contrary to the desperate claims of Ms. Heard, took a 'neutral' position in today's hearing.

'Public or private, it will make no difference to our obliteration of Ms. Heard's new-but-not-improved hoax with mushrooming evidence including her own secretly recorded audio tapes.'

SOURCE:
US VA Court Documents:
- Amber Heard Exhibit 996

Added to timeline:

Date:

Images: