Johnny Depp loses British High Court appeal of libel ruling

US actor Johnny Depp has lost a bid to overturn a verdict that found a British tabloid not liable for calling him a "wife beater."

The actor launched legal action against British tabloid The Sun after it ran a piece in 2018 alleging that Depp had assaulted his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard.

A three-week trial took place in the British High Court last year and at its conclusion, Judge Andrew Nicol ruled the claim in the article was true.

A statement from the British Court of Appeal on Thursday said: "The hearing before [Judge Nicol] was full and fair, and he gave thorough reasons for his conclusions which have not been shown even arguably to be vitiated by any error of approach or mistake of law."

It added the judges believed the appeal "has no real prospect of success" and that "there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard."

As part of the appeal, Depp had requested the court consider new evidence which alleged Heard had not given away most of her 7 million dollar settlement from their divorce to charity, as Depp's lawyers claimed she had promised.

His laywer's added that her decision to donate some of the settlement money had "tipped the scales against Mr Depp from the very beginning."

According to the court, Heard donated some 950,000 dollars to the American Civil Liberties Union and 850,000 dollars to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

But the appeal judgement said there was "no finding" her statement about her donations was misleading and the judges' decision had not been affected by it.