Johnny Depp loses bid to appeal ‘wife beater’ libel ruling
Johnny Depp has been refused permission to appeal a High Court ruling that he violently assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard during their tumultuous relationship.
In November a High Court judge ruled against Depp after he sued the Sun newspaper for libel over an article that labelled him a “wife beater”.
Lawyers for the Hollywood actor branded the ruling “plainly wrong” and asked to submit fresh evidence which they said showed Heard had lied about donating her $7m (£5.5m) divorce settlement to charity.
But the Court of Appeal today dismissed the application, saying the hearings last summer were fair.
“As we have said, it is not easy to persuade this court to overturn the findings of a trial judge on purely factual questions,” the two Court of Appeal judges said in their judgement.
“We do not believe that there is a real prospect of it being prepared to do so in this case.”
In a statement today, Heard’s spokesperson said: “We are pleased — but by no means surprised — by the court’s denial of Mr Depp’s application for appeal. The evidence presented in the UK case was overwhelming and undeniable.”
Depp last year sued Sun owner News Group Newspapers and former executive editor Dan Wootton over a column that referred to “overwhelming evidence” Depp had attacked Heard during their relationship.
Following a highly-publicised trial, judge Mr Justice Nicol ruled that the Pirates of the Caribbean star had violently abused Heard 12 times.
At the time, Depp said the judgement was “as perverse as it was bewildering” and said he would appeal the judgement.
But following today’s ruling, Depp will no longer be able to appeal the case. He has also been ordered to pay the Sun nearly £630,000 in legal costs.
Depp, who has since been dropped from his role in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts, has brought separate libel action against Heard in the US over a 2018 opinion piece in the Washington Post in which she wrote about domestic abuse.