I have posted up on @scribd both parties’ opening statements, their skeleton arguments (which contains the case they will be making during the trial) and Johnny Depp’s second and third witness statements….

… I hope Mr Depp’s first witness statement will materialise in due course. We didn’t get it yesterday.

You can find them here:

NGN opener: https://www.scribd.com/document/468417993/NGN-and-Wootton-Opening-Statement

NGN skeleton: https://www.scribd.com/document/468417996/NGN-and-Wootton-Trial-Skeleton

Depp opening statement:

https://www.scribd.com/document/468417994/Johnny-Depp-Opening-Statement

Depp Skeleton:

https://www.scribd.com/document/468417995/Johnny-Depp-Skeleton-Argument

Witness Statements 2 and 3:
https://www.scribd.com/document/468417987/Johnny-Depp-Second-Witness-Statement https://www.scribd.com/document/468417991/Johnny-Depp-Third-Witness-Statement

Now the awkward bit - I’m not being paid to be here. I am just live-tweeting because I realise there is an appetite for it. If you do want to make a contribution, I have a tip jar. This is the link: https://store29806256.company.site 
Any small contribution gratefully received!

A final note. My live-tweets only paraphrase and summarise what is being said in court. Nothing is a direct quote unless it is in “direct quotes”. And I have a legal responsibility to be "accurate and fair" in my reporting.

Also - please remember I am unlikely to be able to reply to any questions as I will be focused on tweeting what’s going on!

Okay Mr Depp is in the witness box already, we’re just waiting for the judge.

We’re off

Sasha Wass QC (for the Sun/NGN: Were you taking cocaine in March 2013?
JD: It’s possible. I don’t remember.

QC: we’re going to talk about your time with Amber Heard in 2013 (?). She was living with her sister Witney who you got on with and she acted as an intermediary between you and Ms Heard when you were having arguments.
JD: she did act as an intermediary
QC: and you got on with...

… her so well you put her name in your phone as “Sis”. You saw her as family?
JD: yes
QC: and you were taking cocaine in 2013 - you had fallen off the wagon.
JD: if you say so
Judge: it’s a question
JD: Oh. Sorry. I don’t remember.

[Sun QC asks about him changing his Winona Forever tattoo to Wino Forever]
QC: Which I assume was a joke.
JD: "It seemed fitting”
[there is further discussion about whether he was taking cocaine in March 2013]
QC: when you fall off the wagon you feel disappointed...

JD: yes
QC: and you don’t like having your nose rubbed in it
JD: “I suppose the image of having my nose rubbed in it is not a very nice way of putting it.”
QC: Okay you were sensitive to people noting it.
JD: mm…
QC: Well it was when Ms Heard laughed at your tattoo...

…. Wino Forever that you were very sensitive to your behaviour as having broken your sobriety.
JD: [is rambling a bit]
QC: [tells him off for rambling and says she’s going to cut in if he starts going off at a tangent]
JD: can I just say one thing?
QC: can you just answer the q?

JD: can you repeat the question
QC: did you get angry at Ms Heard for laught at your tattoo?
JD: [doesn’t remember]
QC: you then slapped Ms Heard across the face and it’s the first time you have used violence against her...

…
JD: That’s untrue - it didn’t happen.
QC: and you slapped her more than once. You slapped her once and she didn’t react. So you slapped her again.
JD: that is patently untrue

… QC: and it happened again so you slapped her again for a third time at her house in orange avenue.
JD: no it didn’t happen.

QC: and then you broke down - you realised what you’d done, you broke down and you said that you would never do it again. And you tried to...

… explain it terms of your sickness, your addiction. The monster. Your alter ego, that comes out when you are on drugs.
JD [is not clear on this but he is maintaining the violence didn’t happen]
QC: and Amber Heard said she understood what this was like as she had a parent...

… with addiction issues. Her father, who you were rather close to.
JD: remembers that Amber and he had this discussion and that he was close to her father.

[Sun QC goes to a written statement from JD in which he talks about Amber Heard encouraging his alcohol and drug abuse]

QC you were using drugs and alcohol to a significant degree during large parts of your relationship with amber and in your statement you say she was encouraging you to fall off the wagon.
JD: I would say she was not supportive.

QC: and you say she never supported me in my attempts to stay of drugs and
JD: ulitmately she did not
QC: I would suggest that is not true
QC: I would suggest after the first time you hit her, she understood what you were going through and she did try to support you.

JD: If so it was a very strange way of showing support.

QC: you would go round and take cocaine at her orange avenue house, wouldn’t you?
JD: quite likely, on occasion
QC: but she never touched cocaine in your presence. Even though she had taken it before she knew you.

JD: That’s not true.
JD: Not only would she chop cocaine with a razoer blade and turn it into lines, but she put it on her finger and rubbed it on her gums
QC: that never happened
JD: “my eyes have seen the actions”

[We move on]

QC: you have sent a text to Witney - Sis - on 9 March 2013. He was with her in the morning and sent AH a text to which she didn’t respond. “I just want to know that she’s safe. Just worried about her.”

QC: You are referring to AH in this text?
JD: yes
QC: and on 12 March...

QC: This is the disco bloodbath text… you know it?
JD: Yes ma’am
QC: you sent a text to AH “just thought you should know there exists a book called Disco Bloodbath”.

AH replies “we need that book!”
There is then a text exchange in which JD says he is impressed how she can make him laugh over what happened the previous Friday. JD signs off:
“Funny bitch, I fucking love you, you cunt"

QC: that text exchange happened, didn’t it?
JD: yes
[we are moving on and trying to find a document. Mr Depp is wearing what looks like a brown suit today, balck shirt and a light, patterned tie. The videolink is not quite 4K - not even SD really and the contrast is whack]

[so forgive me if that isn’t bank on. Johnny has taken off his glasses whilst the judge is trying to find the document. The judge finds it. JD gets his specs back on]
QC Do you recognise this kitchen top?
JD: No
QC: if I were to say to you these were lines of your cocaine?

JD: “if they were mine I would wonder why they had been photographed.”
QC: do you recognise it
JD: I see a straw, a little bindle and clearly… my credit card
QC: do you recognise the work surface or table top
JD: I don’t even know if it’s cocaine or not

QC: well we’ll have to draw an inference from that… but you don’t recognise that table top and presumably couldn’t remember the date?
JD: No
QC: Do you remember Ms van Reeve? An artist who had a painting in AH’s house. Since before you knew her.
JD: yes

QC: and do you remember in March turning up drunk and on cocaine?
JD: No
QC: do you accept you are a compulsive smoker
JD: “Yes ma’am I have a horrible addiction to nicotine, yes.
QC: and you also had a horrible addiction to cocaine in March 2013 I would suggest?

JD: no ma’am I’ve never been addicted to cocaine
QC: did you have a box which you used for cocaine?
JD: no ma’am
QC: a two inches square box?
JD: I had a little box for my meds

QC: I’m talking about a cocaine box with a skull and crossbones on it - property of JD - something like that?
JD: i don’t recognise that. it’s entirely possible. I didn’t have a designated box for illegal substances

QC: do you think your use of drugs and alchohol has impaired your memory
JD: no ma’am
QC: you have absolute clarity
JD: yes
QC: but you don’t remember the box
JD: people give me a lot of gifts

[we have now moved on to JD’s alleged jealousy. he admits he can be jealous. QC says he was jealous of Amber Heard and particularly her relationship with Sasha van Reeve the painter.]
QC you say in your statement you wanted Ms van Reeve’s painting removed?
JD: yes
QC: and did you

QC… take no for an answer?
JD: yes
QC: no - you didn’t, you tried to remove it yourself and when she stopped you, you slapped her
JD: that’s not true
QC: and you then used your cigaretted lighter to try to set fire to the painting
JD: that’s not true

[we are now looking at a photo of AH taking a photo in a mirror with what the QC says is a visible bruise on her arm. We can’t see the photo. The judge can’t find the photo. Mr Depp offers ot show the judge his photo. The judge declines: “No no - that’s quite alright”]

QC: do you remember causing any injury to AH’s arm
JD: no ma’am i dont’
QC: I suggest when you say you had clear memories of being with AH that’s not true. You forgot how you behaved so AH started keeping records in order to remind you of what you’d done.

JD: I cannot make any statement as to Ms Heard’s photography
QC: and she used these records to show you what your behaviour was like
JD: well I’ve never seen this photo before so she didn’t use this to remind me of anything
QC: but you accept she has a bruise in this photo
JD yes

QC; and on that night, you hit her, you hit her with the back of your hand and you are wearing rings. you always wear those rings, don’t you?
JD: yes
QC; and I would suggest that if you did hit her with the back of your hand it would cause her a huge amount of pain. and you did.

JD; no I didn’t

QC there was a date in 2013 you were extremely late on set filming a documentary about Keith Richards and I would say to you that was the day after you hit her in March 2013.
JD: no it wasn’t after that
QC another argument?
JD: there was another argument, yes.

QC: AH has documented 13 different occasions when you were violent towards her. She says these aren’t all the occasions. They are just the occasions she has recorded. you know that don’t you?
JD: yes
QC: and the day you were meant to be on set with Keith Richards...

… Whitney went back to her house and found a scene of complete destruction. Broken glass, lines of cocaine, mess everywhere.
JD: I dont’ remember it like that. I remember the morning.
QC: Where you were drinking whiskey
JD: it had been a tough… moment
QC: and taking cocaine...

JD: I don’t remember taking cocaine.
QC: Let’s go back to the photos of Ms Heard’s kitchen. You said you were drinking whiskey
JD: yes ma’am
QC: is that a high-ball glass of whiskey in that photo?
JD: yes, i was used to doing shots of whiskey, but that is whiskey on ice

QC: diluted with anything else?
JD: just ice water
QC: and there’s a bottle of spirits there with another receptacle containing a spirit. now AH doesn’t drink spirits does she? She drinks red wine.
JD [concurs]
QC so what’s that receptacle?

JD: it’s a bottle of whiskey called…. it’s a whiskey I like called Bullet Bourbon… because it looks like something from the 1920s
QC: is that that bottle
JD: no
QC: okay let’s have a look at that box which says property of JD - that’s your cocaine box isn’t it

JD: yes I suppose it is
QC: the one you said you couldn’t remember
JD: yes I am sorry, I must have been mistaken
QC: that’s why I was asking you about your memory. and I would suggest this box was very precious to you during this period of your cocaine addiction

JD: I was not addicted to cocaine. It’s very difficult to get addicted to cocaine - cocaine is not an opiate
QC [cuts him off] Mr Depp that’s enough - you say you were not addicted to cocaine.

[QC moves on to JD calling a Ms de Villepin a slut. And suggests it is indicative...

… of his attitude towards women. JD takes issue with this, but agrees he probably meant to call Ms Villepin a slut. QC describes him doing this in the aftermath of his massive night whilst AH and Whitney try to persuade JD to leave the house (for 4 hours) and go to the Keith...

… Richards doc set. JD explains the interview with Keith had been done and that all that was happening that day was filming Keith and Tom Waits performing in a studio so he called in to them all, and said they could go ahead without them.]
[we move on]

[sorry - go ahead without “him” not “them”]

QC reads a text “we started shooting you know” and you say “go goddamit - start shooting” you say you dont’ need me. And then another text “Keith is at the studio - Keith is rehearsing” you know what that’s about
JD: yes
QC: KF was...

… very important to you. We know that. what was so important at AH’s house that you wouldn’t got to see him rehearse on your set?
JD: [starts to answer]
[QC sneezes]
JD: bless you
QC: thank you
JD: I’ve lost my train of thought...

QC summarises. and when of your staff turns up to take you to the set you refuse to leave the house because you are tucking into the whiskey and cocaine
JD: well yes I was previously mistaken. Now I see the photograph and the whiskey and I believe I was partaking of the cocaine.

JD: there were four lines - I don’t think I took all of the cocaine
QC: I think you had taken a lot before then
JD: I am pretty sure that Whitney took some of the cocaine.
QC: but AH didn’t
JD: “AH in a lot of ways is a creature of routine and there were certain...

… things that she needed to do for me that I was not allowed to do for myself. When I came home she would take my boots off and that was part of our routine."

JD continues: There were certain things she would do for me and on that occasion she did take cocaine with her finger.
QC: So you remember what happened now.
JD: Well you’ve opened my eyes
QC: yes I understand how that hapens, but AH never took cocaine...

… she didn’t like cocaine and she never prepared it for you.
JD: that’s not true
QC: my suggestion is you had taken so much alcohol and cocaine that you were behaving irrationally and very badly, and you don’t remember it.
JD: what do you mean by badly behaved
QC: I’m about to..

… tell you.
JD: Oh thank you.
QC: Whitney, her dog, you and your driver Nathan got in a car and he started to take you to the set. Nathhan gets you drugs, doesn’t he?
JD: agrees he might
QC: and you were behaving angrily and badly - the Monster was back
JD: not really

QC: and you took Whitney’s tiny dog and held it out of the window and started howling
JD: that’s not true. It’s an enduring image. I would never do that
QC: were you laughing at a suggestion you made that you could put the dog in the microwave
JD that sort of humour was a running

joke between myself Ms Heard, her family because they [the dogs] are so ludicrously tiny. I wasn’t the inventor of that joke. I wasn’t the only one who brought things like that up.
QC: whilst you were behaving like this Nathan (and some other person in the car) did nothing...

JD well there was nothing for them to do.
QC: you surround yourself with people who never tell you what to do. They just exist to clear up after you
JD: I disagree - that would be a very sad way to live ones life and as far as hanging a dog out of the window
QC: you’ve already...

… denied that.
Judge wants to know if he denies surrounding himself with yes-men. JD agrees he does NOT surround himself with people who dont’ tell him what to do.
QC you hid your the fact you’d fallen off the wagon
JD: well it’s not a thing to advertise...

QC and you were in contact with people whilst you were trying to stay sober, people like Elton John.
JD: yes
QC let’s look at a doc from April 2013

QC where you get sent a text from Charlie Dunnett congratulating you on staying on the wagon for more than 400 days and you did nothing to confess to what you had been doing
JD: we don’t see my responses here
QC: are you suggesting you sent a text saying you’d fallen off...

… the wagon.
JD: “I’m pretty sure having been in touch with Elton and Charlie and I would have told Elton that I’d failed and I’d certainly have told Charlie.”
QC: could you try to find that for us?
JD: It was probably face to face
QC: so no documentary proof

QC goes to some texts from 2013 where JD texts an assistant that he needs bandages and stitches and finishes his texts with “I will poop on your chest”
JD: [giggles]
QC: I’ll take that that’s a joke
JD: yes
QC: you have said before you have a childish sense of humour