Johnny Depp’s appeal bid to promote position in the US, Sun lawyers say

Johnny Depp is trying to overturn a damning ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard (Yui Mok/PA Wire)

Johnny Depp is seeking to appeal a High Court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife to promote his position in an impending US trial, lawyers representing the Sun newspaper have claimed.

The actor is making a bid in the Court of Appeal to overturn the outcome of a libel case against the tabloid, in which the judge found that an April 2018 column calling Mr Depp a “wife beater” was “substantially true”.