Actor Johnny Depp has lost his British High Court libel action against The Sun newspaper over an article which labelled him a “wife beater”.
Depp (57) sued the tabloid’s publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton over the 2018 article, which referred to “overwhelming evidence” that he attacked ex-wife Amber Heard during their relationship.
In a ruling on Monday, Mr Justice Nicol dismissed the Pirates Of The Caribbean star’s claim, saying NGN had proved what was in the article to be “substantially true”.
The judge said: “The claimant has not succeeded in his action for libel.
“Although he has proved the necessary elements of his cause of action in libel, the defendants have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true.
“I have reached these conclusions having examined in detail the 14 incidents on which the defendants rely as well as the overarching considerations which the claimant submitted I should take into account.”
