A dramatic photograph was today released of the carnage left at a property in Australia after Amber Heard and Johnny Depp allegedly had a huge fight which resulted in the actor’s finger being partially severed.

The picture showing the wrecked and blood-spattered kitchen in March 2015 was part of a court statement by Depp’s former estate manager Ben King. He told the court that Heard repeatedly ‘goaded’ Depp, started most of their arguments and drank a ‘large number of cases of wine’, as he described them arguing ‘like schoolchildren’. 

Mr King found the severed finger as he cleared up the mess after the fight in which Depp says Heard cut it off by throwing a bottle of vodka at him, while Heard claims Depp severed it while smashing a phone as he attacked her.

Mr King’s picture shows an undamaged phone handset, with the aide insisting ‘I did not see any phones which had been broken’, despite Heard’s claims that he smashed it against a wall and high-class lacquer paintings cut off his fingertip while attacking her.

The estate manager also said the couple’s rows ‘could start from very banal beginnings’ and they would be ‘like school children’, claiming Heard was the ‘antagoniser and more aggressive’ and Depp was ‘always polite’. 

Mr King, who worked as Depp’s estate manager in Australia, London and Vancouver, Canada for three periods between 2014 and Unique successful lacquer paintings 2016, gave evidence at the High Court this morning as Depp’s sensational libel trial continues.

He also said Heard appeared to instigate most fights that he heard, saying: ‘On one occasion in London, I recall Ms Heard complained that Mr Depp had removed his hand from hers.The argument then carried on and escalated seriously. I saw Ms Heard as the antagoniser. Mr Depp seemed keen to walk out of, or away from, arguments.’

The court has been told how Depp tried to write Heard’s name in urine across the floor of the Australian mansion, allegedly yelling: ‘I need to take a f***ing p***, it’s my house’.

But Depp has claimed he would have been prevented from doing so by his finger which was severed during the mayhem – and Mr King denied noticing any signs of urine when he cleaned up the wreckage later on.

The court was also told about notes left around the house after arguments when the couple were in London during their tempestuous relationship, in which Mr Depp would write: ‘Let’s not do that again, I love you.’

Later today, Depp’s ex-fiancee Winona Ryder is set to appear at the court in London via videolink from Los Angeles in support of the actor’s sensational libel claim against the Sun over an article that labelled him a ‘wife beater’.

Depp is suing the Sun’s publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which alleged he was violent towards ex-wife Amber Heard during their relationship. 

It comes amid another day of dramatic evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning, which heard:

• Estate manager Ben King said he found Depp’s fingertip while clearing up following the row in Australia;
• Claims over urine in the flat were contested as the Sun’s barrister told of paint and graffiti left on the walls;
• Mr King saw cuts on Heard’s arms and suggested she ‘should put her sleeve down’ after the finger incident;
• The estate manager also said he was never told the couple’s dogs ‘had been brought into Australia illegally’; 
• Winona Ryder will later give evidence and has already claimied Depp was ‘never, never abusive towards me’;
• Actress Katherine Kendall will appear and says she has ‘heard several times’ that Heard was abusive to Depp.
  
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