Johnny Depp’s lawyers accuse Amber Heard of lying about giving £5.5m divorce settlement to charity

Amber Heard‘s claim that she gave her £5.5million ($7million) divorce settlement to charity was a ‘calculated and manipulative lie’, Johnny Depp‘s lawyers have told the Court of Appeal.

The Hollywood star is trying to overturn a damning High Court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife and put her in fear for her life, and is asking the Court of Appeal to order a retrial of his libel claim against The Sun.

Following a three-week trial in July last year, Mr Justice Nicol ruled that Mr Depp, 57, assaulted Ms Heard, 34, on a dozen occasions and put her in ‘fear for her life’ three times.

The judge found that an April 2018 column calling Mr Depp a ‘wife beater’ was ‘substantially true’.  He said ‘a recurring theme in Mr Depp’s evidence was that Ms Heard had constructed a hoax and that she had done this as an ‘insurance policy’, and that Ms Heard was a ‘gold-digger’. But he added: ‘I do not accept this characterisation of Ms Heard.’

Today the actor’s legal team was back in court to claim the star ‘did not receive a fair trial’ and is applying for permission to appeal against the ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Thursday. Neither Mr Depp nor Ms Heard are present in court.

Hollywood star Johnny Depp, pictured, has gone 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 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

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

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 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’

Johnny Depp's barrister, David Sherborne arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London,

Sasha Wass, Lawyer for Amber Heard's legal team arrives at the High Court to hear the appeal at a request in a Johnny Depp libel case in London,

Johnny Depp’s barrister, David Sherborne arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, and was followed into court by Sasha Wass QC, Lawyer for Amber Heard’s legal team

His barrister Andrew Caldecott QC applied for permission to rely on ‘fresh evidence’ that Ms Heard did not donate her divorce settlement to charity.

He said Ms Heard was ‘the key witness’ at the libel trial, adding: ‘They (NGN) would have had no defence without Ms Heard. There were many other witnesses, but she was on any view centre stage.’

He added that Ms Heard’s witness statement said that ‘the entire amount of my divorce settlement was donated to charity’.

Mr Caldecott said that statement ‘means what it says … ‘I have not kept a cent’ and that was clearly how the judge understood it’.

The barrister said: ‘There were two charities that received money from Ms Heard: the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the American Civil Liberties Union. On August 18 2016, Ms Heard publicly stated that the seven million dollars would be equally divided between them.’

But Mr Caldecott said that ‘the only donation’ to the hospital that has been made is one of ‘100,000 dollars, not the 3.5 million dollars which we say the court was led to believe was the true position’. 

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

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 

Mr Caldecott said, the hospital wrote to Mr Depp’s business adviser in 2019 to say Ms Heard had not made ‘any payments’.

In written submissions, Mr Caldecott said the pledges ‘strengthened Ms Heard’s credit in an exceptional way’.

But, he added, that was a ‘calculated and manipulative lie, designed to achieve a potent favourable impression from the outset’.

In November, Mr Justice Nicol rejected Mr Depp’s contention that Ms Heard was a ‘gold-digger’, saying in his ruling: ‘Her donation of the seven million US dollars to charity is hardly the act one would expect of a gold-digger.’

Mr Caldecott argued that the if ‘the truth about the charity claim emerged at the trial, it would have materially affected Mr Justice Nicol’s consideration of Ms Heard’s evidence as a whole’.

He said: ‘The evidence presented a wholly exceptional act of philanthropy, which would have deeply impressed any reasonable person.

‘Her public statements expressly stated that the ACLU donation had victims of domestic violence specifically in mind.

‘The subliminal message of the charity claim was in any event clear: Ms Heard would not wish to keep any of Mr Depp’s money, because he had subjected her to serious violence.

‘The evidence presented, and was obviously intended to present, her in the strongest terms as both virtuous and a victim.’

Photos after the December incident show bruising to Heard's face after Depp allegedly headbutted her. The trial is hearing evidence about 14 such incidents

Photos after the December incident show bruising to Heard's face after Depp allegedly headbutted her. The trial is hearing evidence about 14 such incidents

Heard’s team showed the court photos of a separate incident showing bruising to her face after Depp allegedly headbutted her. The trial heard evidence about 14 altercations from their time together. The court believed Heard that he did hit her

After last year's libel trial of the century Mr Justice Nicol said he accepted 12 of Heard's 14 allegations that Depp had beaten her for three years beginning in 2013

After last year’s libel trial of the century Mr Justice Nicol said he accepted 12 of Heard’s 14 allegations that Depp had beaten her for three years beginning in 2013

Mr Caldecott said Mr Depp ‘had his suspicions about Ms Heard’s evidence’ at the time of the trial, ‘but he had no evidence to support them’.

The barrister added: ‘Ms Heard took every available step to suppress the evidence.’

Adam Wolanski QC, representing the Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), said in written submissions that Mr Depp’s ‘fresh evidence’ was said to support ‘a theory that Ms Heard was a ‘gold-digger”.

But, he said, ‘the evidence is not ‘fresh’ at all, since it could have been obtained with reasonable diligence for (the) trial’.

Mr Wolanski added: ‘The ‘fresh’ evidence – which the respondents accept is apparently credible insofar as it shows that Ms Heard has not yet finished making her pledged payments to the charities – only goes to a highly peripheral and unpleaded matter and is of no relevance to the pleaded issues, i.e. the 14 assaults, that Mr Justice Nicol had to decide.

‘The evidence would have had no impact on Ms Heard’s credibility had it been before the trial judge, since it does not demonstrate that Ms Heard or any of the respondents’ witnesses lied.’

She told the court: ‘The application to admit the evidence should therefore be refused … (and) the application for permission to appeal should be dismissed.’

Mr Depp sued NGN in June 2018 over the column by the newspaper’s executive editor Dan Wootton, which referred to ‘overwhelming evidence’ he attacked Ms Heard.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Nicol concluded that 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.

But Mr Depp’s legal team claims Mr Justice Nicol ‘failed to examine the competing accounts of each incident, or to explain whether he found them proved and, if so, on what basis’.

They also argue ‘the judge should have analysed the extent to which Ms Heard’s evidence undermined her credibility in relation to her allegations of physical assault/injury’.

In November Depp accepted an award from Camerimage, a film festival in Poland, for Minamata, in which he plays the war photographer W Eugene Smith. He sent a photograph of himself standing behind bars in what appeared to be his private island in the Bahamas.

In November Depp accepted an award from Camerimage, a film festival in Poland, for Minamata, in which he plays the war photographer W Eugene Smith. He sent a photograph of himself standing behind bars in what appeared to be his private island in the Bahamas.

Depp severed the top of his finger (pictured) when he smashed a vodka bottle during a row with Heard over his drug-taking while he was in Australia in March 2015 filming Pirates of the Caribbean

Depp severed the top of his finger (pictured) when he smashed a vodka bottle during a row with Heard over his drug-taking while he was in Australia in March 2015 filming Pirates of the Caribbean

After slicing off the top of his finger, Depp went to the bathroom at the mansion in Australia they were renting - and wrote I love you in his blood on the mirror

Depp also admitted to daubing other graffiti on the mirror during his drug-fuelled rage with Heard during their three-day stay in Australia

After slicing off the top of his finger, Depp went to the bathroom at the mansion in Melbourne they were renting – and wrote I love you in his blood on the mirror. He also daubed other graffiti on the mirror during his drug-fuelled rage 

Just 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 – the very role which prompted Mr Wootton to ask how JK Rowling could be ‘genuinely happy’ Mr Depp was cast in the film.

Mr Depp is currently 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 $50million (£35million) US case against Ms Heard was recently delayed until April 2022.

The Court of Appeal hearing, which is being livestreamed on the court’s YouTube channel, is due to conclude on Thursday.

It is yet not known if Lord Justice Underhill and Lord Justice Dingemans will give a ruling on Thursday, or reserve their decision to a later date.