Johnny Depp has been granted access to Amber Heard's phone.
The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor is suing his ex-wife for libel and has claimed she doctored photos to make it look like he had assaulted her, and so a court has now agreed to his request for lawyers to examine her mobile use as he wants to prove his forgery claim.
His lawyer, Benjamin Chew, said: "Ms Heard’s counsel has repeatedly used these phony photographs at deposition.”
The lawyer also claimed Los Angeles police had "disavowed the photographs” and “did not depict what they saw”.
He added: "[Police] found no injury upon Ms. Heard and no disruption to the penthouses.
“Ms. Heard and her friends then fabricated photos that she used to obtain an ex parte TRO [temporary restraining order] and a $7 million divorce settlement which Ms. Heard falsely testified in London she gave to the ACLU and, more scandalously, to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; sick children with cancer."
The lawyer had argued earlier images handed over had no metadata so their expert, Brian Neumeister, could not verify the details.
The lawyer said: "Mr. Neumeister’s preliminary investigation shows that a number of the photographs have been run through a photo — a photo editing application called Photo 3 that can easily manipulate images such as showing bruises where none actually existed."
And he insisted in last year's libel trial with The Sun newspaper - who Johnny unsuccessfully sued after they branded him a "wife beater" - the publication's own expert concluded photos allegedly depicting the 'Danish Girl' star's 2015 injuries were "manipulated three years later".
He added: “As such, any editing of the trial bundle versions would have been on or after Oct. 6 2018.
“So Ms. Heard or someone on her behalf doctored those photographs three years later. When that came up in her testimony in London, Ms. Heard falsely denied it. In short, Your Honour, without forensic imaging Mr. Neumeister cannot properly assess or verify Ms. Heard’s data."
An expert will now be able to look at the phone to examine if the photos had been fabricated, but the judge denied a request from the 'Aquaman' actress' team to have Johnny hand over his phone and laptop, saying they had asked for "too broad" a search.
Amber's lawyers have hit back and accused the 58-year-old star of failing to support the "authenticity" of his own evidence.
Her attorney said: “Amber Heard remains willing and able to support the authenticity of her evidence, and her IT forensics expert has cooperated in this effort.
"In sharp contrast, Mr Depp has been unable to produce even the audio tapes from which he leaked a partial out-of-context portion, much less any support for the authenticity of any of his evidence.”
The lawsuit relates to a December 2019 op-ed Amber penned for the Washington Post, in which the 35-year-old star wrote she had “become a public figure representing domestic abuse", though she didn't mention her ex-husband by name.
The suit claims the 'Black Mass' star has suffered financial losses as a result of the accusations.
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