Amber Heard’s ‘calculated lie’ about cash: Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp claims his ex lied about donating her divorce settlement as he tries to appeal trial finding he’s a wife beater.

Johnny Depp claimed on Thursday that a “calculated and manipulative lie” by his ex-wife about donating her divorce settlement to charity should allow him to appeal against a libel trial finding that he is a “wife beater”.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star accuses Amber Heard, 34, of misleading the trial when she claimed to have donated the entire $AU12.5 million settlement to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Andrew Caldecott QC, counsel for Depp, told the Court of Appeal in London: “The subliminal message of the charity claim was in any event clear: Ms Heard would not wish to keep any of [Depp’s] money, because he had subjected her to serious violence. The evidence presented, and was obviously intended to present, her … as both virtuous and a victim.”

Caldecott said that the hospital received only dollars $AU129,000 and ACLU got dollars $AU581,000.

The Court of Appeal was told that Depp, 57, “had his suspicions” about Heard’s “remarkable claim” but had no evidence to support them at the trial. He added that Heard’s “opposition” to disclosing evidence about the donations to a separate $AU64.5 million libel action brought by Depp in America “speaks for itself”.

Depp sued The Sun last year for libel over an article describing him as a wife beater, but lost. Mr Justice Nicol, the trial judge, ruled in November that he accepted “Ms Heard’s evidence that she had given that sum [the divorce settlement] away to charity”.

Retrial bid

Depp’s lawyers also want a retrial on the basis that the original judgment “is plainly wrong”. Caldecott said: “The trial judge failed to examine the evidence and the arguments with the care that the parties were entitled to expect.”

Adam Wolanski QC, counsel for The Sun, told the court that the trial judge had been “steeped in the case” which involved several preliminary hearings before a three and a half week trial. He said that 12 of the 14 assaults claimed by Heard, star of the Aquaman film, were found proved.

Wolanski said that Depp was trying to introduce new evidence to show that his former wife was a “gold digger”, explaining why during their five-year relationship she “constructed a ‘hoax’ to demonstrate that he had committed multiple acts of violence against her”.

“The labelling of Ms Heard as a gold digger was a misogynistic trope,” he said. Wolanski added that Heard told the court she “donated the money, not that she had paid it”. He said donations from Heard or anonymous payments had totalled $AU1.22 million for the children’s hospital and $AU1.09 million for the ACLU.

Lord Justice Underhill, one of the appeal judges, said: “We now know what the truthful answer would have been but [Ms Heard] was never given the opportunity to say: ‘I have paid a comparatively small sum but I’ve made a pledge to both [charities].’ ”

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Dingemans, promised a decision “very shortly”.

The Times