Winona Ryder to take the stand at Johnny Depp’s libel trial

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Amber Heard travelled with a ‘large number of cases of wine’, regularly drank two bottles a night and started most of the arguments with Johnny Depp, the actor’s former estate manager told a court today.

Ben King, who worked as Depp’s estate manager in Australia, London and Vancouver, Canada for three periods between 2014 and 2016, gave evidence at the High Court this morning as Depp’s libel trial continues.

Mr King released a photograph of the carnage left at a property in Australia after the couple were said to have had a fight in March 2015 which resulted in Depp’s finger being partially severed after Heard allegedly attacked him.

The picture shows an undamaged phone handset, with Mr King insisting ‘I did not see any phones which had been broken’, despite Heard’s claims that he smashed it against a wall and cut off his fingertip while attacking her. 

The court also heard about notes left around the house after arguments when the couple were in London during their tempestuous relationship, in which Mr Depp would write: ‘Let’s not do that again, I love you.’

Later, Depp’s ex-fiancee Winona Ryder is set to appear at the court in London via videolink from Los Angeles in support of the actor’s sensational libel claim against the Sun over an article that labelled him a ‘wife beater’.

Depp is suing Sun publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which alleged he was violent towards ex-wife Amber Heard during their relationship. 

It comes amid another day of bombshell evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday, with claims including:

• Depp alleged Heard ‘acquired him for fame’ but ‘hammered him’ for ‘being a sad old man’ in explosive texts;
• Depp claimed Heard had put a cigarette out on his face while in Australia, a month into their marriage in 2015;
• The actor was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed, according to his bodyguard;
• Heard took off her wedding ring and threw it during another row with Depp in 2015, but it was later found;
• Heard’s stylist said she had ‘no visible’ injuries the day after the actress alleges Depp was violent towards her;
• Depp’s head of security Jerry Judge previously warned the actor was ‘not well’ and ‘we need to help him out’.

Today, Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, asked Mr King about his second witness statement – filed on Monday – and which said that Heard ‘drank two bottles of wine a night and was taking medication’. 

Ms Wass said: ‘When you were first interviewed for the job, you were told that Depp was teetotal, having been a drinker.’ Mr King said that was correct.

Ms Wass then said: ‘When you arrived at the house were Depp and Heard were staying in London, there was a relatively large number of cases of wine that had been brought to the house and you found that strange.’

The barrister also said: ‘You reached the conclusion that Ms Heard drank two bottles of wine a night.’ Mr King replied: ‘Not every night… it was a regular occurrence, but not every night.’

Ms Wass said: ‘Because you were counting the bottles of wine.’ Mr King said he had kept ‘a mental tally, just in case I needed to restock’.

Ms Wass said to Mr King: ‘As far as you were concerned, Mr Depp was sober at that time. Did you know whether he was clean from drugs at the time?’ Mr King said: ‘I don’t know.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘Is that something he would have done in front of you in any event?’

Mr King replied: ‘I didn’t know if he was clean from drugs. It was not any of my business.’ Ms Wass then read out a text message sent by Depp in 2014 in which he wrote: ‘I am going to quite gracefully glide into a massage of my broken neck and back.

‘I will emerge in one hour a monster. Shall we each swallow an E or perhaps MDMA at around 8pm and go for dinner… at a wee Peruvian spot.’ The barrister said: ‘Your evidence is you saw no sign whatsoever of Mr Depp taking any drugs.’

Mr King initially agreed, but after further questioning from Ms Wass he admitted that Depp ‘seemed to smoke cannabis sometimes around the house’. He said it was ‘possibly every day’ but added: ‘That wasn’t any of my business.’

Ms Wass asked how he knew only Heard was drinking the wine, to which Mr King said he would only see one glass in the morning. Mr King added: ‘I’m quite sure for the time I was there in the house (that Mr Depp was not drinking).’

Ms Wass then referred to notes which would be left around the house after arguments when the couple were in London, in which Mr Depp would write: ‘Let’s not do that again, I love you.’

Ms Wass suggested they were ‘peacemaking notes’, to which the former estate manager said he did not know the details.

The barrister asked: ‘Did you know the content of these arguments? How on earth can you say that (Ms Heard was aggressor)?’ ‘That’s how I see it.’

‘Because you have come here to give evidence in support of Mr Depp against Ms Heard’? Ms Wass asked. Mr King said: ‘I am supporting Mr Depp’s claim, yes.’

Stranger Things actress Ryder, 48, who had a relationship with Depp, 57, in the 1990s, will give evidence in support of the actor’s case over a video link from Los Angeles this afternoon. The court has previously heard Depp had a ‘Winona Forever’ tattoo when the pair were an item, which he later changed to ‘Wino Forever’. 

At a preliminary hearing, part of Ryder’s witness statement was revealed to say: ‘I cannot wrap my head around (Ms Heard’s) accusations. He was never, never violent towards me. He was never, never abusive at all towards me.’ 

The actress will give her evidence this afternoon, after the court hears from Depp’s former and current estate managers, Mr King and Kevin Murphy, in the morning session. Also today, the court is due to hear from actress and advocate for the #MeToo movement Katherine Kendall, who claims she was ‘misquoted’ in The Sun’s article.

In court documents, Depp’s lawyers said Kendall will explain how annoyed she was that the article was presented as if she was ‘endorsing’ a comparison between the actor and disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

In a complaint to the Sun, Kendall wrote: ‘I never meant to be in an article that called Johnny Depp a ‘wife beater’. I told you that I didn’t know that to be true at all! I have heard SEVERAL times that she was in fact abusive to him. 

‘He’s never been a convicted ‘wife beater’. It seems that the whole article was about defaming him. I said over and over that I didn’t KNOW that he had caused her harm.

‘Even a picture only makes it ‘seem’ so. I’m telling you that you misquoted me and intentionally took things I said out of context in what I now realise was your purpose in defaming Johnny Depp.

‘I told you I have heard Amber Heard hit him, which is why as you know I don’t condone ‘any’ violence. You have improperly tried to use the #MeToo movement for your purposes by using me in this way.’

The court will also hear from Kate James, Heard’s former personal assistant, who is expected to give evidence on Heard’s consumption of red wine and her impression of Depp.

She is also expected to claim that Heard asked her to help draft a letter to US Homeland Security in 2014, which falsely claimed one of Heard’s employees was just a friend, which meant she would not fall foul of regulations.

Trial judge Mr Justice Nicol said in a preliminary ruling that he will determine during the trial whether Ms James’s evidence relating to what has been referred to in court as the ‘Australia dogs episode’ will be allowed to form part of Depp’s case.

In 2016, Heard and Depp recorded a now infamous video apologising for taking their Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia illegally.  

Yesterday, one of Depp’s security guards told the court that the actor lied about how he lost the top of his middle finger ‘only to protect’ his ex-wife Heard.

Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the Hollywood star was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed during an incident in Australia in March 2015.

Giving evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday, Mr Connolly said that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Depp told him: ‘She’s cut my f****** finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.’

The episode in Australia is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Heard, 34, has made against Depp which The Sun relies on in its defence of the claim that he was a ‘wife beater’.

Heard claims that Depp lost the top of his finger while slamming a telephone against a wall, but the actor says his ex-wife threw a vodka bottle at him which smashed and severed his finger.

The security officer said Heard’s account of the incident bore ‘no resemblance’ to his recollection and that, when he arrived at the house, the actress ‘did not have any marks on her face or arms’.

He also said that Heard was ‘absolutely hysterical’ and shouted at Depp: ‘Are you just going to leave it like this, you f****** coward?’

Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, said Mr Depp had ‘come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged’.

Mr Connolly said that those explanations were ‘only to protect Amber’, adding: ‘The usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason.’

The former prison officer also claimed that ‘Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp’ was not a ‘one-off’, saying that it had happened ‘in Australia and in Los Angeles’.

Depp’s barrister David Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: ‘Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time?’

Mr Connolly said: ‘No – and I wouldn’t tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn’t tolerate that.’ Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Not even if it was your boss?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘Not even if he’s my boss. I don’t care if he’s the pope.’

The court also heard evidence from Tara Roberts, Depp’s estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, who said in her witness statement: ‘I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else.’

Ms Roberts said that ‘it was Ms Heard who was the most violent’ and described seeing Depp with a ‘red, swelling gash’ on the bridge of his nose after Heard had apparently thrown a can of lacquer thinner at his face.

She also claimed that Heard hurled insults at Depp, calling him ‘washed up’ and ‘fat’, and was aggressive towards the actor during a Christmas visit to the Bahamas in 2015.

Samantha McMillen, Depp’s stylist since 2002 who also worked for Heard during the couple’s relationship, gave evidence that she saw ‘no visible’ injuries the day after Depp allegedly attacked Heard in December 2015.

She said Heard said to her after taping James Corden’s The Late Late Show on December 16 2015: ‘Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’

Ms McMillen said in her witness statement: ‘Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment.’

The stylist gave evidence of seeing Ms Heard in a ‘chance encounter’ on May 24, 2016, three days after the Pirates Of The Caribbean star is alleged to have thrown his ex-wife’s own mobile phone at her and hit her in the eye.

She said that on that occasion: ‘Ms Heard was not wearing make-up. There were no visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries to her face or any other part of her body.’

The court finally heard evidence from Hilda Vargas, Depp’s housekeeper in Los Angeles for more than 30 years, who was asked about the ‘defecation incident’ – when she found faeces in Depp and Heard’s bed after the actress’ 30th birthday party on April 21 2016.

Ms Heard claims that one of their two small Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, were responsible, but Depp has said he was ‘convinced’ that it was Heard ‘or one of her cohort’ who defecated in the bed.

Ms Vargas said that she was ‘horrified and disgusted’ to find ‘a large pile of faeces’ in the bed – and that ‘it was clear to me’ that it was human faeces ‘because of the size’.

In 2016, Heard and Depp recorded a video apologising for taking their Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia illegally

In her witness statement, Ms Vargas said: ‘I knew that the faeces could not have come from either of Depp’s or Heard’s two small dogs. ‘I have cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faeces are much smaller.’

Giving evidence through a Spanish interpreter from the US, Ms Vargas said she was ‘angry’ and thought it showed a ‘lack of respect’, adding that she took photographs of the faeces and sent them to Depp’s estate manager, Kevin Murphy.

Ms Vargas said she also saw Heard on May 24, 2016 and that she did not see ‘any bruise, any mark, any injury’ on her face. 

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: ‘Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?’

His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was ‘overwhelming evidence’ Depp assaulted Heard on a number of occasions and left her ‘in fear for her life’.

Heard claims that, during the incident in Australia, she was subjected to a ‘three-day hostage situation’ during which Depp drank to excess and took pills.

NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs’.

DAY SIX: Amber Heard claims Johnny Depp gave her ‘two black eyes’ day before she posed for selfies on the Late, Late Show with James Corden – but make-up artist who styled her on set says she didn’t see a single injury

Amber Heard claimed Johnny Depp gave her ‘two black eyes’ the day before she appeared on The Late, Late Show with James Corden – but the stylist who did her make-up told a court yesterday that she had ‘no visible’ injuries.

Samantha McMillen said she spent ‘much of the afternoon and early evening’ with Heard on December 16, 2015 as she prepared to appear on James Corden’s show – and could ‘see clearly’ that Heard had no marks, cuts or bruises.

Depp is alleged to have been violent towards Heard in an argument at their Los Angeles penthouse the day before, which he denies. The Hollywood star is suing The Sun over an April 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.

Ms McMillen said she saw Heard ‘in good light, at close range, wearing no makeup’ on December 16, and that she ‘could see clearly that Ms Heard did not have any visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries’ to any part of her body.

In a witness statement to the High Court in London revealed yesterday, Ms McMillen claimed that after the actress’s appearance on the US programme, Heard said to her: ‘Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’

The stylist, who has worked for Depp since 2002 and was Heard’s stylist during the couple’s relationship, said: ‘Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment.’

Ms McMillen, who has also styled Brie Larson and Ryan Gosling, added: ‘I later learned that Ms Heard had accused Mr Depp, in court filings and the media, of violently abusing her the previous night, December 15, 2015.’

As Ms McMillen was leaving Heard’s company on December 16 she claimed to have overheard her say to her friend Raquel Pennington, who came to the show with her, ‘make sure to get those pictures onto my computer’.

But the stylist added that she ‘did not know to what photos she was referring’. Photographs were later issued by Heard’s legal team of her with injuries to her face around the time of the alleged attack, but they are undated.  

Meanwhile, in a separate alleged incident the following year in May 2016, Ms McMillen also claimed Heard did not have any injuries on her face despite the actress claiming Depp had attacked her three days before.  

Ms McMillen said she met a tearful Heard at Depp’s house in West Hollywood on May 24, 2016 but could not see any ‘marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries’ to any part of her body.

Three days later Ms McMillen read in the media that Heard had gone to court with ‘prominent injuries visible on her face’, claiming that Depp had inflicted them on her.

But the stylist said Depp had left Los Angeles on May 22 and therefore ‘could not have caused those marks that Ms Heard appeared with in court on May 27, 2016’. 

Ms McMillen was called to give evidence from the US by videolink in Depp’s libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.

Sasha Wass, for the The Sun’s publishers News Group Newspapers (NGN), said Ms McMillen had been asked to give evidence about two dates – December 16, 2015 and May 24, 2016 – when she saw Ms Heard.

The barrister showed Ms McMillen a number of photos from around the time of December 16, 2015 which are said to show Ms Heard with marks and ‘bruising’ on her face.

After being shown a photo taken on December 15, which apparently shows Heard with a mark on her face, Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s not how I remember her looking on that day.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘Would you agree that shows that she has got bruising coming up underneath both eyes?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘It’s not a clear picture, but it does look like there is dark around her eyes.’

Ms Wass said: ‘Your evidence is that you never saw any of these injuries on the afternoon or the night of December 16 when you were with Ms Heard.’ Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s correct.’

Ms Wass continued: ‘Ms Heard told a number of people on the 15th and 16th about these injuries. How close would you say you were to Ms Heard?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘We had a good working relationship.’

Asked if Heard would ‘confide’ in her, Ms McMillen said: ‘I wouldn’t say so, no. I wouldn’t be on her speed dial.’

Ms Wass referred to a message sent by Heard in December 2015, which read: ‘Johnny did a number on me tonight.’ The barrister asked: ‘Did Ms Heard ever say to you that Johnny ‘did a number on her’?’

Ms McMillen said: ‘She never said anything about that to me.’

Ms Wass then asked: ‘Do you consider that your loyalties are more with Mr Depp than with Ms Heard? You have a long-standing relationship with Mr Depp … he’s a big figure in Hollywood. 

‘If there was a conflict of loyalties between Mr Depp, your loyalties to Mr Depp on the one hand, and any loyalty you might have to Ms Heard … who would take priority?’

Ms McMillen said: ‘I was close with her at the time. I don’t know what you are insinuating but I would not perjure myself for anyone. I’m obviously loyal because he’s kind and loyal back, but without any other reason than that.’

Ms Wass asked why Ms Heard would make allegations of domestic violence against Mr Depp ‘unless it was true’.

Ms McMillen replied: ‘I don’t know the answer to that.’

Ms McMillen told the court that Ms Heard said to her after taping the James Corden show on December 16 2015: ‘Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’

The witness was asked: ‘As far as you could see, did Ms Heard have two black eyes?’

Ms McMillen replied: ‘I never noticed anything like that when I saw her. I never noticed her having two black eyes.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘If you didn’t see any black eyes, did you not ask her what on earth she was talking about?’

Ms McMillen said: ‘I didn’t. We were leaving at the end of the show and we were going our separate ways. We were saying goodbye.

‘I was confused by it and I think I said something like, ‘I don’t know what to say’.

‘I didn’t see the black eyes, but also I don’t want to, you know, raise any sort of – I just wanted to go home.’

Ms McMillen was then asked about an email sent by Ms Heard to her publicist, Jodi Gottlieb, in the early hours of December 16 which said: ‘I’m really bruised or might have a black eye or two tomorrow … I might not be fit for tomorrow but I won’t know how bad the bruise is until the morning.’

Ms Wass asked if there was ‘any reason’ Ms Heard would send that email ‘unless she actually had what she thought might develop into two black eyes’. Ms McMillen replied: ‘I can’t think of why she would do that.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘After she said to you, ‘can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?’, did not you not think to offer her some sort of support or make some sort of inquiry rather than just quickly leave?’ Ms McMillen said: ‘I gave her a hug.’

Ms Wass suggested Ms Heard’s make-up artist, Melanie Inglessis, said she was ‘going to put a really bright red lipstick on Ms Heard to try and cover the mark on her lip’. Ms McMillen said: ‘I don’t remember that conversation.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘Do you remember Ms Inglessis putting particularly heavy make-up on Ms Heard that night to cover the injuries?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘I didn’t notice it being any heavier than usual.’

Ms Wass asked Ms McMillen if, having seen photos of Heard apparently with marks, ‘do you still maintain that there is nothing on her face on the 24th?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘When I saw her on the 24th (of May 2016) I noticed nothing but her beautiful skin.’

Ms Wass suggested: ‘You are being less than frank with the court … and you have come to this court to help Johnny Depp, who is a person who is very important to your career.’ Ms McMillen said: ‘I’m telling the truth.’ 

Mr Depp’s barrister David Sherborne referred Ms McMillen to what she said in her witness statement about when she saw Ms Heard on December 16 2015, asking: ‘If you had seen Ms Heard’s face looking like it did in the photos you were shown, would you have given the evidence that you gave?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘No, I would not.’

Mr Sherborne referred to a visit to Ms Heard by her nurse Erin Boerum, who later noted: ‘The client also states her head is bruised and she lost clumps of hair in the altercation. The registered nurse (Ms Boerum) briefly looked at Ms Heard’s scalp but was unable to visualise the hematomas (bruises) that the client had described.’

He asked Ms McMillen: ‘Can you think of any reason why Nurse Boerum, who says she didn’t see these bruises, would lie about not seeing those bruises?’ She replied: ‘I can’t think of any reason why she would do that.’

Mr Sherborne then asked about when Ms McMillen saw Ms Heard at Mr Depp’s house in LA on May 24, 2016. Ms McMillen said she met her ‘by chance’ and had been at the house before Ms Heard arrived.

Mr Sherborne said: ‘You are in Mr Depp’s house in West Hollywood and Ms Heard turns up. She doesn’t know you are going to be there … and you say that when she turned up, not knowing you were going to be there, she was not wearing make-up.’ Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s correct.’

Mr Sherborne asked: ‘And, without the benefit of make-up, you said that she had her usual beautiful skin?’ Ms McMillen said: ‘That’s correct.’

Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Did she (Ms Heard) tell you that she had been beaten up by Mr Depp?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘She said nothing like that.’

Ms McMillen was asked by Mr Mr Sherborne how Ms Heard’s face appeared in a photograph taken shortly before the filming of the James Corden show.

The stylist said Ms Heard’s skin looked ‘beautiful’, adding: ‘That is how I remember her looking once her make-up had been done.’ 

Mr Sherborne said: ‘You were asked (by Ms Wass)… if you had a conflict between your loyalty to Mr Depp or your loyalty to Ms Heard, which would win. But can I ask you a different question?

‘Where there was a conflict between your loyalty to Mr Depp and you having to lie to this court, which would win?’ Ms McMillen replied: ‘I would not commit perjury for any reason, for anyone – friends or family or anyone.’

Also yesterday, the court heard Depp said Heard was ‘as full of s**t as a Christmas goose’ and blasted her ‘constant insults’ after claiming his wife smashed his hand with a vodka bottle and ‘cut my f***ing finger off’.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star sent a series of texts slamming Heard to his doctor after his finger was severed in Australia in March 2015, and accused her of marrying him because she was ‘so desperate for success and fame’.

He told Dr David Kipper that Heard had said he was a ‘sad old man’ and ‘has been’ and blasted her ‘hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddamn shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love’.

The actor’s libel trial also heard yesterday from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his ‘career is over’, he would die a lonely man’ and called him ‘fat’. 

In the texts to Dr Kipper, Depp wrote: ‘I just cannot live like this… She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I’m done. NO MORE…!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what… ?? 

‘FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless ‘educational’ ranting…??? Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all…

‘Here’s the real deal, mate… Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important… She is SO F***IN’ AMBITIOUS!!! She’s so desperate for success and fame… That’s probably why I was acquired, mate…!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am… 

‘Cowan (Dr Connell Cowan, another doctor) has done me the most cruel of favors… I’m so very sad… I cut the top of my middle finger off… What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital… I’m so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her…’ 

Tara Roberts, Depp’s estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, was also called to give evidence in the libel case against The Sun newspaper yesterday.

Sasha Wass QC, for the Sun owner’s News Group Newspapers, suggested Ms Roberts was ‘totally dependent on Mr Depp for your livelihood’, to which she replied: ‘No… I have other sources of income.’

The barrister asked about a passage in her witness statement in which Ms Roberts said: ‘I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else.’

Depp is seen pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet

Ms Wass then played a video of Depp, which has previously been played to the court, which shows the actor pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet.

The barrister asked Ms Roberts: ‘Would you agree it shows a different side of his character from the one you speak of in your witness statement?’ To which Ms Roberts replied: ‘No’.

Responding to questions from Ms Wass about a detox trip to Depp’s private island in the Bahamas in August 2014, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had spoken to the actor’s doctor Dr Kipper and nurse Debbie Lloyd.

She told the court that neither of them had a discussion with her about the actor’s medical affairs.

Ms Wass then read out part of the actor’s medical records from September 2014, which said Depp was ‘sitting in the kitchen with scraped and bloodied knuckles’ and said he had punched a whiteboard in the kitchen after a fight.

The barrister said: ‘It would appear that Dr Kipper saw a different aspect of Mr Depp than you did, would you agree?’ Ms Roberts replied: ‘Yes.’

Ms Wass then asked Ms Roberts about the former couple’s stay in the Bahamas for Christmas 2015, and the estate manager confirmed that she was not aware Depp and Heard’s relationship was very difficult at that point.

Heard was ‘the most violent’ in their relationship, says Depp’s estate manager 

The barrister said: ‘As far as you were concerned, you have suggested that it was Ms Heard who was the most violent, is that right?’ Ms Roberts replied: ‘Correct.’

She then described seeing Depp with a ‘gash’ on the bridge of his nose, which she said wasn’t bleeding, and confirmed the actor had never suggested that she should photograph it.

Ms Wass then put it to Ms Roberts that Heard had the remains of a bruise or a mark on her right cheek, to which Roberts responded: ‘It wasn’t visible to me.’

The estate manager confirmed the fight between the couple took place on December 29 and she was then shown a photograph from around that time of Heard with bruising on her face.

However, she again said she had not seen this bruising when she saw the couple after the argument.

During an exchange with Depp’s barrister David Sherborne, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had never seen the video clip before it was played in court and that she did not see the actor be violent to Heard in that clip.

She also said that she ‘never saw’ Mr Depp being violent or aggressive towards Ms Heard on the island, and never saw him hit her.

Mr Sherborne then said Ms Roberts explained in her witness statement that Ms Heard wasn’t wearing make-up on the island, which the estate manager said was ‘correct’.

The barrister asked: ‘Did you ever see that bruising on her when she was on the island?’ To which Ms Roberts replied: ‘No.’

He then asked if Ms Roberts would have seen if Ms Heard had bruising to her face at that time, to which she answered: ‘If she had then I would have seen it.’

Mr Sherborne said it was suggested by Ms Wass that Ms Roberts depended on Depp for her livelihood, and she told the court her additional income came from a family business in the Bahamas, which includes a law firm and a car dealership.

The barrister said: ‘Ms Wass is suggesting to you that you are not telling the truth because you are scared of losing a job that you love, livelihood, you need your home on the island.

‘Are you lying because you are worried about those things Ms Roberts?’ The estate manager replied: ‘No I’m not lying. I’m not lying.’

Calls for Depp’s accountant to give more evidence about actor’s accounts amid claims Heard was a ‘gold digger’ 

Shortly before lunch, the court heard legal argument about whether Depp’s accountant, Edward White – who gave evidence by video link from the US on Monday – could be asked to provide further information about Depp’s accounts during the period of his marriage to Heard.

Ms Wass QC, said that ‘one of the criticisms that has been made of Ms Heard… is that she is a gold digger’. Ms Wass said it had been suggested that that was the ‘motivation’ for her ‘elaborate hoax in order to trick, somehow trick Mr Depp’.

She added: ‘The position is that Ms Heard was given a settlement of $7million (£5.5million) when the divorce came through on August 15 2016.’

Ms Wass continued that if it was true that Heard was ‘entitled to half the income accrued by Mr Depp during the course of their marriage… and the settlement was considerably less than what she was entitled to, which we say is the position, it considerably emasculates the claimant’s case.’

She told the court that Depp’s income between February 2015 and May 2016 was ‘quite considerable’ and that the information NGN wanted Mr White to give ‘strikes at the heart of the claimant’s case’. 

Depp’s barrister David Sherborne said that ‘it was not suggested by Mr Depp that it had anything to do with being a gold digger’.

But Ms Wass referred to Depp’s witness statement in which he said that he eventually believed that Ms Heard had ‘an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially’.

She also referred to a text sent by Depp shortly after the couple split which referred to Heard as ‘gold-digging, low-level (and) dime-a-dozen’, adding: ‘Gold-digging is top of the list.’

Ms Wass said she was ‘asking Mr White to confirm the accounts for the relevant year, the year of the marriage, which he is in a position to do.’ 

Mr Justice Nicol said: ‘I’m not inclined to ask Mr White to give us further information about the income that Mr Depp earned during the course of the marriage and their relationship.’

But the judge added: ‘Mr White should be asked to give whatever information he is able to give about the settlement that was reach with Ms Heard as part of the divorce agreement.’

Depp was ‘in emotional distress’ after his finger was severed in Australia and allegedly had a cigarette stubbed on his face

Earlier, Depp’s former bodyguard claimed in court yesterday that Depp said Heard had ‘cut my f***ing finger off’ after smashing his hand with a vodka bottle and stubbing a cigarette on his face during a blazing row.

Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was ‘in emotional distress and panicking’ after his finger was severed in Australia.

The incident is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper being heard at the High Court in London. 

Mr Connolly said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Depp told him: ‘Look at my finger. She’s cut my f***ing finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.’ 

Following the Australia incident, Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark. It took place just one month after Heard and Depp had married in Las Vegas in February 2015. 

The security officer said Heard’s account of the incident bore ‘no resemblance’ to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress ‘did not have any marks on her face or arms’. 

He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp’s security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: ‘Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.’

Mr Connolly said: ‘I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn’t locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. He and Amber were screaming at each other.

‘She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip. I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of ‘Come with me, you are coming with me’.

‘I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of ‘Johnny, come with me’. It wasn’t easy but I did get him outside.

‘I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of ‘Look at my finger. She’s cut my f***ing finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle’. I saw his finger and it was a mess.’ 

Mr Connolly’s statement continued: ‘Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of ‘Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?’

‘Then she was saying ‘I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?’. She was not making a lot of sense – one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away.

‘She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before.

‘For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny’s general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke. I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.’

Depp’s bodyguard claims Heard ‘did not have any marks on her face or arms’

Mr Connolly said he could see Heard’s face ‘very clearly’, adding: ‘She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn’t look in any physical distress.

‘I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn’t that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.’

The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Depp’s injury would ‘create extremely bad publicity’ and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions. 

Mr Connolly said: ‘I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door. However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn’t believe us for one second.’

He said Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly’s apartment with him instead.

Frantic response saw Depp’s security team say they ‘have got to get over to his house urgently’

Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers, asked Mr Connolly about the incident in Australia.

She said Mr Connolly was told by Jerry Judge, then Depp’s head of security, that they ‘have got to get over to Mr Depp’s house urgently’. Mr Connolly said that when he arrived at the house ‘there was an argument ongoing’.

Ms Wass asked if Mr Connolly could ‘understand what Mr Depp was saying during the course of that argument’.

He replied: ‘No, because I was outside… I could hear a ruckus, but I couldn’t understand the actual words being said.’ Ms Wass asked: ‘Was there a time when you did get inside the house?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘Yes.’

Ms Wass asked ‘what sort of state’ Depp was in, to which Mr Connolly said the actor was ‘distraught’. She then asked if Depp was ‘coherent’ or if he ‘appeared as if he had been drinking’.

Mr Connolly said: ‘It’s hard to tell with Johnny because it takes some amount of volume of alcohol.’ He added: ‘He didn’t appear that drunk to me.’

Mr Connolly said that after he arrived at the house in Australia in March 2015, Depp was ‘having a conversation with me, straight as a die’.

Ms Wass asked if Depp appeared to be rational, to which the personal security guard said: ‘I don’t know about rational because he was in shock.’ 

The barrister then asked if Depp appeared to have taken drugs, and whether Mr Connolly was ‘familiar with what he was like when he took drugs’. Mr Connolly said: ‘I’m never privy to that sort of behaviour… I have never seen it.’

Bodyguard denies claims that Depp was ‘covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled’

Ms Wass suggested: ‘He was absolutely filthy, wasn’t he? Untidy… covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled and didn’t appear as if he had washed. He was properly filthy?’ Mr Connolly said that was not the case.

Ms Wass suggested to Mr Connolly that his evidence in his witness statement – that Mr Depp told him, ‘she’s cut my f****** finger off. She’s smashed my hand with a vodka bottle’ – was not true. Mr Connolly replied: ‘I can only say I was there, I witnessed it.’

Ms Wass said Depp had ‘come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged’. Mr Connolly said that those explanations were ‘only to protect Amber’.

He added that the story that Depp had trapped the finger in the ‘accordion doors’ in the house was ‘my story’.

Ms Wass asked: ‘You cooked up that lie, did you?’ Mr Connolly said: ‘Yes.’

Ms Wass then took Mr Connolly to a text sent by Depp to his private doctor, David Kipper, shortly after he lost the tip of his finger which read: ‘F*****, man. Had another one. I just cannot live like this. She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose!!!

‘I’m done. NO MORE!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c***!!!!!’

The message added: ‘I cut the top of my middle finger off… What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital…’ 

Ms Wass asked: ‘Would you agree it appears that Mr Depp was accepting that he cut the top of his finger off in that text?’

Mr Connolly said: ‘Yes, it’s how it’s worded.’

Depp asked his assistant for ‘more whitey stuff’

Ms Wass then read out a text sent by Depp to his assistant Nathan Holmes, just five minutes later, which read: ‘Need more whitey stuff ASAP, brotherman. And the E business.’

Mr Connolly said the reference to ‘whitey stuff’ was ‘probably cocaine’ and that ‘E business’ was a reference to ecstasy.

Ms Wass then suggested that the house was ‘completely wrecked’, but Mr Connolly said: ‘I never saw the house completely wrecked. I only got as far as the front foyer.’

The barrister asked: ‘You couldn’t see paint that had been graffitied all over the house? You couldn’t see damage?’ Mr Connolly said: ‘No.’

He also said he did not see any broken windows at the property. Ms Wass then said: ‘As far as you were concerned, Ms Heard was uninjured.’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘That’s correct, yes.’

Ms Wass asked: ‘What opportunity did you have to look at Ms Heard to say that?’ Mr Connolly said that when he was ‘trying to get Johnny in the car, Amber came to the front door screaming and shouting’.

Ms Wass asked if he was ‘absolutely sure’ he did not see any scratches on Heard’s arms, to which Mr Connolly said he was.

She also asked if Mr Connolly saw a ‘bruise on her (Heard’s) face’, to which he said he had not.

Ms Wass asked Mr Connolly about an audio recording, part of which was played to the court, which was made during the incident in Australia in March 2015.

The court heard a male voice, which Mr Connolly said he recognised as Depp’s voice, shouting unintelligibly, and the security guard said the actor was ‘in shock’ at that point.

Ms Wass said the recording was made over five hours and included various conversations, with Depp, his doctor and Mr Judge, all heard on the full audio.

Mr Connolly told the court: ‘It appeared to me at the time that Amber was completely unharmed.’ Ms Wass asked if it was possible, given the circumstances of the situation, that he must have missed something, to which Mr Connolly responded ‘no’.

She said: ‘And you are trying to be fair to both parties – it’s not a question of you simply coming here to support your boss?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘Not at all, no.’

Security team told how Depp was ‘not well’ and needed help 

Ms Wass said that, during part of the recorded conversation, Mr Judge could be heard to say: ‘He is not well, we need to help him out in every way we possibly can.’

Mr Connolly confirmed he agreed with Mr Judge’s remark that the actor was not well.

Ms Wass said Mr Judge could also be heard to say: ‘He basically completely cut the top of his finger off on a broken bottle and we found the piece and we had to put it on ice.’

Mr Connolly said he didn’t remember that and his recollection was Depp telling him that Heard had cut his finger off with a broken bottle.

Ms Wass then asked Mr Connolly about a train trip in South East Asia, which was Depp and Heard’s honeymoon in July 2015.

She read out a diary note written by Heard which said: ‘We finally fell asleep with one another smashed together in desperate, childlike anger, fear and love.’

Heard recounted ‘terrible’ fight in a diary note

The note continued: ‘Our fight was terrible. Johnny… at one point found himself with his shirt wrapped around my neck. Amazing to think about (the) precision, co-ordination that required considering the close circumstances…

‘I don’t even know how I wound up with this huge, rather annoying knot on the back of my head. F***, I hate that.’ The note concluded: ‘Where are my lines, do I have any left?’

Ms Wass asked where Mr Connolly was on the train, and he said he was ‘about three or four doors down’ from the couple.

The barrister asked: ‘So, if a fight had taken place at 3.30 in the morning, do you think you would necessarily have known about it?’

Mr Connolly replied: ‘I would never have known about it.’

David Sherborne, representing Depp, then asked Mr Connolly: ‘Did you ever see any injuries to Ms Heard on the trip on the South East Asia train?’

The security guard said, ‘no, never’, before confirming that Ms Heard had not told him she had received any injuries, nor that Mr Depp had hit her.

Mr Sherborne then asked: ‘If she had suffered injuries, would you or would you not have seen them?’

Mr Connolly replied: ‘I would have seen them.’ 

Depp was ‘in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock’ after the finger incident

Mr Sherborne then asked about the incident in Australia in March 2015, and referred to the recording Mr Connolly had been played which the barrister said was taped by Heard. Mr Connolly said Depp was ‘in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock’.

He said the first thing Depp said to him when he tried to remove him from the house was ‘give me a f****** minute’. Mr Connolly said the actor then ‘stood in the driveway holding his hand and he said ‘she just cut my f****** finger off”. 

Mr Sherborne said Mr Connolly was ‘dealing with a difficult situation’, and asked what experience he had of similar situations. Mr Connolly said: ‘I’m an ex-prison officer for HMP Pentonville.’

He explained that he was ‘trained in extraction, I’m trained in pacifying… spotting bruising patterns’. Mr Connolly added that he was trained ‘by the establishment, by the Home Office’.

Mr Sherborne referred to the ‘other explanations’ for how Depp lost the top of his finger and asked Mr Connolly why they were devised.

Mr Connolly said they were ‘to protect the production’ Depp was involved in at the time, as well as Heard.

He added that he had ‘seen it in prison’ that ‘the usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason, you know the psychological bullying… they fit the same criteria, they never come forward with the information’.

Mr Sherborne asked about the ‘cigarette burn’ on Depp’s cheek after the incident, which Mr Connolly said he saw on the actor’s face.

The barrister then turned to the transcript of the recording Heard apparently made, on which Mr Judge can be heard to say ‘she hit him, she slapped him yesterday’.

Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp, is that something you have heard before?’ Mr Connolly replied: ‘I’ve heard it before, yes.’

Mr Sherborne asked if it was a ‘one-off’, to which Mr Connolly said it had happened ‘in Australia and in Los Angeles’.

He also asked Mr Connolly about a text message, which was sent on an unknown date, sent to him by Mr Depp which read: ‘Please get me out of this room now, she struck me about 10 times. Can’t take anymore.’

Mr Sherborne asked: ‘In your experience, Mr Connolly, of dealing with Ms Heard and Mr Depp over a number of years, was this a one-off type of text or conversation with Mr Depp?’ Mr Connolly said: ‘No.’

Mr Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: ‘Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time?’

Mr Connolly said: ‘No – and I wouldn’t tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn’t tolerate that.’ Mr Sherborne asked: ‘Not even if it was your boss?’

Mr Connolly replied: ‘Not even if he’s my boss. I don’t care if he’s the Pope.’ Mr Sherborne then asked: ‘Not even if your livelihood depended on it?’

Mr Connolly said: ‘I work for Johnny … only three days ago, I was offered a job in Peru. I don’t depend on Johnny for my income.’

Mr Sherborne asked him about the suggestion that ‘you had been pressured to lie and come on Johnny’s side’, and whether that was true. Mr Connolly said: ‘Absolutely untrue.’

Mr Connolly’s evidence came on day six of the trial of the actor’s libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a ‘wife beater’. 

Yesterday’s evidence comes one day after Depp finally finished giving evidence and claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard, 34, ‘mirrored’ her abuse towards him.

On the final day of his evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday during his libel case against The Sun, Depp said: ‘It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something she had done to me.’

The actor also accused Heard of throwing a ‘haymaker’ punch at him during a row after her 30th birthday party, just hours after he had learned during a ‘bad’ business meeting that he had lost $650million (£514million).

On Monday, the High Court also heard that Depp has a ‘remarkable’ ability to not get drunk despite drinking ‘a lot of alcohol’, that cocaine simply ‘brought him to a normal level which normal people might operate at’.  

Depp is suing The Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an article in April 2018 which labelled him a ‘wife beater’.

His barrister David Sherborne referred on Monday to a ‘secret recording’ of the former couple in San Francisco in July 2016, after they had split and Heard had obtained a restraining order against the actor.

In the recording, Heard can be heard to say it was ‘unbelievable to imagine’ that she had either been ‘in a secret fight club’ or ‘plotting to do this for three years … just saving it up for the right time’ when she was not asking for any money, adding ‘no-one is going to believe that’.

Depp described Heard’s words as ‘a reverse confession’, adding: ‘It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something that she had done to me, so I started to see this kind of pattern, a mirroring, and when she said that, I was real taken aback, for sure.’

Mr Sherborne said Depp can also be heard to say ‘you f****** haymakered me, man’ in the recording – which is said to refer to an incident after Heard’s 30th birthday party at the couple’s LA penthouse on April 21 2016.

The actor is accused of throwing a bottle of champagne at Heard, grabbing her by the hair, and pushing her during a row, after he arrived home late for the party. Depp denies the allegations. 

The actor said that, at a business meeting on the day of Heard’s party, he was ‘in the early stages’ of finding out from a new business manager that ‘the former business managers had (taken) quite a lot of my money’.

Asked how much had been taken, Depp said: ‘It was put to me this way, because I had no idea about money or amounts of money.

‘Since Pirates (Of The Caribbean) 2 and 3, I had – and this is ludicrous to have to state, it’s quite embarrassing – apparently I had made $650million and when I sacked them, for the right reasons, I had not only lost $650million, but I was $100million (£79 million) in the hole because they (the previous business managers) had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years.’

Depp was also shown a photograph, apparently taken by his ex-wife, which showed him in August 2014 with ‘ice cream spilled all over my leg’ shortly before he was due to go to the Bahamas for a detox.

The actor said the picture was taken at a time when he had been working 17-hour days and was ‘very tired, falling asleep’.

The court also heard evidence from Depp’s former personal assistant, Stephen Deuters, who alleged Heard ‘was the abuser in the relationship’.

Mr Deuters, who is now European president of Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, said that during the period in which Depp is alleged to have been abusive towards Heard, he saw her ‘on many occasions’ and ‘at no point’ did she ‘ever mention any physical abuse’.

He told that court that he was ‘extremely surprised and outraged’ when it became public that Heard had filed for a restraining order.

Mr Deuters described the couple’s tempestuous relationship as ‘not great’, saying: ‘I think they were two people that were in love with each other that shouldn’t have been together.’

The front desk supervisor at Depp’s LA penthouse building also gave evidence that she saw ‘no visible injuries whatsoever to Heard’s face’ three days after Mr Depp allegedly hit his ex-wife in the face with her own mobile phone on May 21 2016.

Trinity Esparza said the first time she saw any marks on Heard’s face that week was on May 27, the day the Aquaman actress appeared in court to obtain a restraining order against Depp, which ‘disturbed’ Ms Esparza.

Ms Esparza, who owns the company that provided concierge services at the Eastern Columbia building where Depp previously owned five apartments, said in her witness statement that she ‘saw and interacted with Heard on May 23, May 24 and May 25 with a clear and unmarked face’.

Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, said to Ms Esparza: ‘Isn’t it more accurate to say you saw her earlier in the week and you didn’t notice it?’ Ms Esparza replied: ‘That is not accurate, I saw her very clearly.’

Ms Esparza also told the court that she saw ‘a number of marks on Ms Heard’s body’ – including bruises on her neck, plasters on her arm and a mark below her left eye – on a day in June or July 2016, shortly after Tesla founder Elon Musk left the building at around 9am looking ‘like he had just woken up with messy hair’.

Depp is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: ‘Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?’NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was ‘controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs’.