Johnny Depp loses bid to appeal libel verdict

Johnny Depp has been refused permission to appeal the ruling in his libel case.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor went to trial against the News Group Newspapers – the publisher of British tabloid The Sun – accusing them of libel for calling him a “wife beater” in a 2018 article referring to abuse claims made by his ex-wife Amber Heard, and after a three-week trial in July last year, he lost the case, with Mr Justice Nicol finding that the term was “substantially true”.

Depp went to the court of appeal seeking permission for him to challenge the ruling, but following a hearing last week, the court announced on Thursday that they had refused to permit him to appeal.

“We refuse Mr Depp’s application to admit further evidence in support of his proposed appeal and we conclude that the appeal has no real prospect of success and that there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard. We accordingly refuse permission to appeal,” said Lord Justice Underhill, reports the Guardian.

Depp’s lawyer Joelle Rich said he looked forward to “presenting the complete, irrefutable evidence of the truth in the US libel case against Heard where she will have to provide full disclosure”.

“We are pleased – but by no means surprised – by the court’s denial of Mr Depp’s application for an appeal. The evidence presented in the U.K. case was overwhelming and undeniable,” said a spokesperson for Heard. “Mr Depp’s claim of new and important evidence was nothing more than a press strategy, and has been soundly rejected by the court.”

Depp and Heard were married between 2015 and 2016.