Johnny Depp CCTV footage shown to London High Court in libel case
Video footage of an “agitated” Johnny Depp after an alleged fight with Amber Heard has been shown in court, as his security guard admits a photo blunder.
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Video footage of an “agitated” Johnny Depp filmed on CCTV after an alleged bust-up with ex-wife Amber Heard was shown to London’s High Court on Friday.
In the video, the 57-year-old actor is filmed in a lift after he was alleged to have thrown a phone at Heard, 34.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing the publisher and executive editor of Britain’s The Sun* newspaper over a 2018 story calling him a “wife beater” who had repeatedly attacked the 34-year-old model and actress.
Depp has firmly denied the allegations of physical abuse.
Both he and Heard are trying to cast the other as the villain in a rocky two-year marriage that ended in an ugly 2017 divorce and several expensive lawsuits.
Eight days of hearings in London’s High Court have so far shown the couple fighting almost ceaselessly after extravagant parties filled with copious amounts of drugs.
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On Thursday, the High Court heard Depp had gone to the couple’s LA penthouse “spoiling for a fight” in May 2016 when he overhead Heard talking on the phone to a friend about a poo that was left in the couple’s bed.
The nasty surprise had been left in the bed in April 2016 and was the trigger for the couple’s divorce, Depp has previously said.
Depp’s security guard Sean Bett said the star had been “extremely agitated” after their alleged fight in May, and he was “moving back and forth in the lift”.
Mr Bett told the court he had gone into their home after hearing Heard shouting.
He said: “When we entered, we saw Mr Depp standing approximately 20 feet (6m) away from Ms Heard, who was standing by the couch.
“As soon as Ms Heard noticed that we had entered the room, she looked very surprised; her demeanour then changed and she pointed at Mr Depp and screamed to us words to the effect of: ‘If he hits me one more time, I am calling the police.’”
Mr Bett told the court it was Depp who had been abused by Heard during the marriage, and said Depp told him Heard had punched him after he was late to her 30th birthday in April 2016.
But he also admitted he submitted the wrong photo to the court to show how Amber Heard had abused her husband and not the other way around.
The court was shown a photo showing the 57-year-old actor sporting a red bruise under his left eye.
Both Amber Heard and Johnny Depp deny physically abusing the other.
But Bett admitted under cross-examination that the picture attached to his statement was actually sent to him by one of Depp’s lawyers.
Bett said he took a “very similar” photo of Depp with a bruise a year earlier. Bett added that he could not find the photo from the night in question because he has since lost his phone.
The defence seized on this as proof that Depp’s witnesses were knowingly giving false evidence on his behalf.
“You are lying,” defence lawyer Sasha Wass told Bett.
“You can call me a liar 100 times. I am not lying,” Bett replied. “I am telling the truth.”
The defence said Heard publicly admitted to hitting Depp during her 30th birthday party – to protect her sister Whitney.
WINONA RYDER, VANESSA PARADIS NOT CALLED
Depp’s case has been supported by his former partner Vanessa Paradis – a French singer with whom Depp has two children – and his American ex-fiance Winona Ryder.
Both submitted witness statements but Depp’s team on Thursday decided to call on neither because the three-week hearing is taking longer than planned.
Ryder said in a statement released at a preliminary hearing that she “cannot wrap my head around (Heard’s) accusation”.
“He was never, never violent toward me. He was never, never abusive toward me.”
Paradis also called Heard’s version of Depp “nothing like the true Johnny I have known”.
Thursday’s hearing did try to establish video links with some of the minor characters in the drama based in Los Angeles.
A security guard testified that he saw Heard “vomiting” after a night out. The defence tried to show that it was actually her sister who got sick.
Another security officer could not make it because he was still on shift. All of which left judge Andrew Nicol sounding slightly overwhelmed. He ended Thursday’s hearing by sternly asking why the two lawyers had submitted so much evidence in the case.
“Do I really have to plough through 12 volumes or can you propose an alternative,” he asked.
Depp’s lawyer proclaimed innocence and said most of those volumes were produced by Wass.
The defence lawyer said she “will take up my lord’s invitation” and “happily present a chronology” with a snappy summary for the judge to read at the end.
*The Sun is owned by News Corporation, which also owns news.com.au
Originally published as Johnny Depp CCTV footage shown to London High Court in libel case