Amber Heard 'vindicated' as UK court rejects Johnny Depp appeal

A spokeswoman for Amber Heard said she was was 'pleased -- but by no means surprised by the decision'

Actress Amber Heard and British tabloid The Sun said they were vindicated after a UK court on Thursday refused Johnny Depp the right to appeal against a ruling that he was a wife-beater.

The Hollywood actor had sought to challenge a November 2020 ruling in a high-profile libel action that upheld claims in the newspaper that he beat Heard during their stormy marriage.

The Sun said the newspaper "had every confidence that this leave to appeal application would not be granted and are pleased with today's decision".

The trial judge "gave thorough reasons for his conclusions which have not been shown even arguably to be vitiated by any error of approach or mistake of law".

The original ruling saw the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star ordered to pay the newspaper's publishers News Group Newspapers (NGN) £628,000 ($873,000, 733,000 euros) in legal costs.

Earlier this month, Depp's lawyers cast doubt on testimony given by Heard arguing that she had only paid a fraction of her divorce settlement to charity, rather than all of it, as she had claimed.

The Sun added the 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".

- Excruciating detail -

The case, which laid bare the actor's battle with drink and drugs, was dubbed "the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century".

The judge dismissed Depp's claims after three weeks of revelations about the couple's stormy relationship, saying the article had been proven to be "substantially true".

The 16 days of proceedings in July, which both Depp and Heard attended, exposed the couple's troubled and volatile relationship in excruciating detail.

But he vehemently rejected accusations he hurt Heard while battling a drug addiction over a three-year span that ended with her 2016 decision to seek a restraining order and file for divorce.

am-csp/phz/jxb

...