Texts sent by Johnny Depp during his relationship with Amber Heard are “very damaging” to his libel case against a British tabloid, the UK’s High Court has heard.
The Hollywood actor is suing the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, over an article which alleged he had been abusive to his former wife.
At a pre-trial hearing today, Mr Justice Nicol heard 70,000 text messages were “accidentally” disclosed to the defendants by Mr Depp’s former legal team.
Adam Wolanski QC, representing News Group Newspapers, told the court the texts are “very damaging” to Mr Depp’s case.
The barrister said the messages included texts sent to actor Paul Bettany, in November 2013, in which Mr Depp wrote: “Let’s burn Amber”.
He also wrote: “Let’s drown her before we burn her!!! I will f*** her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she is dead.”
Mr Wolanksi said that, in a further text to Mr Bettany in May 2014, he wrote: “I’m gonna properly stop the booze thing darling … Drank all night before I picked Amber up to fly to LA, this past Sunday.
“Ugly, mate… No food for days… Powders… Half a bottle of whiskey, a thousand red bull and vodkas, pills, two bottles of champers on plane and what do you get…???
“An angry, aggro Injun in a f*****’ blackout, screaming obscenities and insulting any f*** who got near… I’m done.
“I am admittedly too f***** in the head to spray my rage at the one I love… for little reason, as well I’m too old to be that guy. But, pills are fine!!!”
Mr Wolanski said the “significance” of the messages is that Mr Depp’s case is that he was not drunk on that flight, while Ms Heard claims he slapped and kicked her and threw his boot at her before passing out in the toilet.
The barrister added: “His version of events is that he was quietly sketching during the flight.”
Mr Wolanski said there was another text message from Mr Depp to Ms Heard in March 2013, following an incident in which she claims he assaulted her during a row over a painting, in which he referred to the evening in question as a “disco bloodbath” and “horrendous moment”.
The barrister also referred to texts sent by Mr Depp’s nurse during a 2014 “detox trip” to the Bahamas, in which she revealed that he was “manic… full on – flipping out” and said he was “angry with everyone but mostly himself”.
