Depp v. News Group Newspapers Ltd [2020] EWHC 2911 (QB): The UK Libel Trial

Case at a Glance

This Case vs. the US Depp-Heard Trial: 2 Different Outcomes

Most people searching for Johnny Depp court cases are thinking of the 2022 Virginia trial in which Depp sued Amber Heard for defamation and WON. That was a different case, in a different country, under different law, with a different result.

The case covered in this case brief is the 2020 UK libel trial, in which Depp sued The Sun newspaper for calling him a wife beater. In that case, Depp LOST. The Sun's defence of truth succeeded. Understanding why requires understanding the very different legal frameworks in the two countries.

The Article and Why Depp Sued

On April 27, 2018, The Sun published an article online by executive editor Dan Wootton attacking author JK Rowling for expressing happiness at Johnny Depp's casting in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The article's headline described Depp as a wife beater. The headline was changed the following morning to remove that phrase, but the article's substantive content remained the same, and the print edition ran under a similarly damaging headline.

Depp sued News Group Newspapers and Wootton for libel, arguing the article was false and had caused serious harm to his professional reputation. He denied ever having physically harmed Heard and claimed she had in fact been violent toward him. He stated he wanted to clear his name.

The defendants took the risky legal strategy of defending entirely on truth. Under the Defamation Act 2013, a defamation claim fails if the defendant proves the imputation is substantially true. By betting everything on a truth defence, the defendants had to prove — to the civil standard of the balance of probabilities — that Depp was genuinely a wife beater. If they failed, Depp would likely receive substantial damages. But if they succeeded, the article was legally protected.

The Trial: 16 Days in the Royal Courts of Justice

The trial ran for 16 days in July 2020 across 2 courtrooms in the Royal Courts of Justice — a dual-courtroom arrangement necessitated by COVID-19 distancing requirements. Both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard testified in person over multiple days. Depp was cross-examined by the defendants' barrister. Heard was cross-examined by Depp's lawyers. 18 additional witnesses gave evidence for Depp; 6 for the defendants.

The defendants relied on 14 specific incidents of alleged domestic violence, spanning a relationship period from 2013 to 2016 across multiple countries including the United States, the Bahamas, Australia, Japan, and on private aircraft. Both parties introduced extensive documentary evidence including text messages, audio recordings, photographs, and medical and police records.

The Most Significant Evidence

Text Messages

Text messages from Depp's own phone proved particularly damaging. In one exchange, Depp wrote of Heard: She's begging for total global humiliation. She's gonna get it. I have no mercy, no fear and not an ounce of emotion or what I once thought was love for this gold digging, low level, dime a dozen, mushy, pointless dangling overused flappy fish market. The judge cited this and similar messages as revealing Depp's capacity for extreme hostility toward Heard.

Depp's Admission About 'The Monster'

Depp himself admitted to a concept he called the monster — his description of a state into which he sometimes snapped when using alcohol and drugs. He acknowledged that after 1 specific alleged incident, he had cried and apologized to Heard and promised not to let the monster out again. The judge found this admission corroborated elements of Heard's account of 1 of the 14 incidents.

The Question of the Dog Excrement

1 of the most-discussed specific incidents at trial was Heard's claim that she or a friend had deliberately defecated on Depp's side of their bed. The judge found this incident was unlikely to have been committed by Heard, reasoning that since Depp was away at the time, Heard herself would have been the one most affected by the unpleasant discovery. This finding was widely covered in tabloid media but was peripheral to the libel outcome.

The Judgment: November 2, 2020

Mr Justice Nicol delivered his 585-paragraph (later 129-page approved) judgment on November 2, 2020. He found that the defendants had established the substantial truth of the imputation — that Depp had been physically violent to Heard, causing her significant injury and on occasion causing her to fear for her life — to the required civil standard of the balance of probabilities. The defendants did not need to prove every single one of the 14 incidents. They needed to prove the overall imputation was substantially true.

The judge found 12 of the 14 alleged incidents proven to the required standard. He concluded that throughout their relationship Depp was controlling and physically abusive toward Heard, particularly when under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The libel claim was dismissed. Depp's lawyers described the decision as perverse and bewildering. The Court of Appeal refused permission to appeal on March 25, 2021, with 2 Lord Justices finding that the trial judge's conclusions were based on a thorough analysis of the evidence.

How This Differs from the 2022 US Trial

In 2022, Depp sued Amber Heard in Fairfax County, Virginia, for defamation based on a Washington Post opinion piece she had written in 2018 describing herself as a public figure representing domestic violence. An American jury of 7 found Heard liable for defamation and awarded Depp $15 million in damages (later reduced to $10.35 million). Heard won 1 counterclaim for $2 million.

The 2 cases are not contradictory. They asked different questions. The UK case asked whether The Sun's characterization of Depp as a wife beater was substantially true. The US case asked whether Heard's 2018 Washington Post article made false statements of fact about Depp. Different evidence, different parties, different legal standards, different juries or judges, different outcomes. The UK judge had access to specific sworn evidence from Heard and others about the 14 alleged incidents. The US jury heard different evidence and made its own credibility assessments.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Johnny Depp found guilty in the UK trial?

Yes. The High Court dismissed Depp's libel claim and found that The Sun's description of him as a wife beater was substantially true. He was not convicted of any crime — this was a civil libel case — but the court found his alleged domestic violence had been proven on the balance of probabilities.

Who won the Johnny Depp trial?

It depends which trial. In the 2020 UK libel trial against The Sun, The Sun won. In the 2022 US defamation trial against Amber Heard in Virginia, Depp won.

Was Johnny Depp innocent?

No court has found him innocent of domestic violence. The UK court in 2020 found the domestic violence allegations substantially true. The 2022 US jury found Heard liable for defamation about unrelated statements, which does not address whether the domestic violence occurred.

Timeline

The UK Depp trial is one of the most consequential modern applications of English defamation law's truth defence, a case that found against one of the world's most famous actors not because he was unpopular but because a tabloid newspaper proved its characterization of him was substantially accurate.