Johnny Depp Plans to Appeal Against ‘Wife Beater’ Verdict

JOHNNY DEPP has applied directly to the UK Court of Appeals in the hope of overturning the verdict of a high profile trial against publishers of the Sun newspaper.

The Hollywood star had attempted to sue News Group Newspapers (NGM), who publish Britain’s biggest tabloid, over a 2018 column that labeled him a ‘wife beater’ against his former wife Amber Heard. The piece, written by Sun director Dan Wooton, cited ”overwhelming evidence” that Depp had committed domestic abuse.

A November court case ruled that the allegations made by the article were ”substantially true”, and Depp was ordered to pay £630k in legal fees to NGM. Judge Nicol found that 12 of the 14 alleged incidents of abuse against Amber Heard that were referenced by the Sun had occurred. In the same month as the high-profile case, Depp attempted to appeal the ruling but was denied.

Judge Nicol ruled at the time that he did not find that ‘the proposed grounds of appeal have a reasonable prospect of success’. However, it has been reported that Depp has directly launched an application to appeal weeks later. It is unclear what the actor’s grounds are for his appeal, nor how long it will take to be granted or denied permission to return to court.

The allegations made by Amber Heard and published by the Sun cost Depp his role in the popular Harry Potter spin-off ‘Fantastic Beasts’ series. The star said ‘the surreal judgement of the court in the UK will not change my fight to tell the truth and I confirm that I plan to appeal.’

Depp’s solicitor described the judgement as ‘so flawed it would be ridiculous for Mr Depp not to appeal this decision’. Meanwhile, the American lawyer of Amber Heard has announced that ‘we will be presenting even more voluminous evidence in the US’, as part of a separate lawsuit over Heard’s article in the Washington Post saying she had been a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Depp.


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Oisin Sweeney

Oisin is an Irish writer based in Seville, the sunny capital of Andalucia. After starting his working life as a bookseller, he moved into journalism and cut his teeth as a reporter at one of Ireland's biggest news websites. Since joining Euro Weekly News in November, he has enjoyed covering the latest stories from Seville, Spain and further afield - with special interests in crime, cybersecurity, and European politics. Anyone who can pronounce his name first try gets a free cerveza...

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