Johnny Depp wanted to DNA test faeces to determine its origin and said Amber Heard ‘left a whooper poo on my bed’ before telling her he wanted a divorce over it during a conference call with his assistant, a court heard today

Johnny Depp wanted to DNA test faeces to determine its origin and said Amber Heard ‘left a whooper poo on my bed’ before telling her he wanted a divorce over it during a conference call with his assistant, a court heard today.

Kevin Murphy, who worked for Depp for eight years until 2016, said Heard had dismissed the so-called ‘defecation incident’ as a ‘harmless prank’ shortly after it took place following her 30th birthday party in April that year.

Days later on May 21, Mr Murphy received a phone call from both Depp and Heard on speakerphone in which the actor asked him to repeat what he had already told him about what happened at their Los Angeles penthouse. 

Mr Murphy said in a submission to the High Court in London revealed today: ‘I then relayed to Ms Heard, again, that (housekeeper Hilda) Vargas had discovered faeces on top of the bed sheet in Mr Depp’s and Ms Heard’s bed. 

‘I also repeated that Ms Heard had admitted that she was responsible for what she referred to as a ‘harmless prank’. Ms Heard yelled and called me ‘a f***ing liar» multiple times. I asked her to stop yelling and swearing at me and overheard Mr Depp in the background saying ‘please don’t speak to him that way.

Be respectful’. 

‘I then heard Mr Depp say he couldn’t do this anymore and wanted a divorce. When Ms Heard would not stop yelling, I hung up the telephone. I received multiple additional telephone calls from the same number in the minutes that followed, but I did not answer them.’ 

Depp was allegedly so incensed at the excrement that he considered getting it DNA tested to establish who had left it.

He wrote in one text to a friend: ‘My wife left a whooper poo on my bed’ and referred to her as ‘Amber Turd’. 

Meanwhile Mr Murphy also said Heard threatened him that his job was under threat if he did not make a statement exonerating her of blame for taking the couple’s Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia illegally in May 2015 and putting it down to errors committed by him and Heard’s assistant Kate James. 

The court also heard that Boo had ‘a number of difficulties with toilet training’, and Heard had texted Mr Murphy to say: ‘I’m worried she’s got brain damage.

She can’t seem to predict or control when she uses the bathroom. Last night she s**t ON Johnny while he was sleeping, like all over him. Not exaggerating.’ 

It comes as another of the actor’s former estate managers, Ben King, told the court that Heard travelled with a ‘large number of cases of wine’, regularly drank two bottles a night and started most of the arguments with Depp.

Mr King also said Heard was the ‘antagoniser’ in her relationship with Depp, often ‘goading’ and attempting to provoke him, and they argued ‘like schoolchildren’, with rows starting from ‘banal beginnings’ before escalating.

The court has been told how Depp tried to write Heard’s name in urine across the floor of an Australian mansion, allegedly yelling: ‘I need to take a f***ing p***, it’s my house’, following an apparent row in March 2015.

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. 

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. 

On another day of dramatic evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning, the court 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.

Mr Murphy gave evidence today by videolink from Chicago.

Sasha Wass QC, for NGN, said: ‘You had a working relationship with Ms Heard… but your employer, your paymaster, was Mr Depp?’ Mr Murphy said that was correct.

Ms Wass said: ‘Your relationship with Ms Heard was such that you would not have expected her to share details of her personal life with you, would you?’

Mr Murphy said he did not know if Heard was the type of person who ‘would share personal things or not’.

Ms Wass then asked: ‘Mr Depp would complain about Ms Heard to you?’ 

When Mr Murphy said that was correct, Ms Wass said: ‘So, in effect, you were given one side of the story.’ Mr Murphy said: ‘I didn’t hear anything from Amber.’

Heard ‘asked estate manager to lie under oath about illegally bringing dogs into Australia’ 

Ms Wass then asked Mr Murphy about his witness statement, in which he claims that Amber Heard asked him to ask her former assistant, Kate James, ‘to lie under oath to the Australian court prosecuting Ms Heard’ for bringing dogs into Australia illegally in April 2015.

The barrister referred to an email sent by an American lawyer called Marty Singer to Heard in October 2015, which read: ‘If you could get Kate to sign a statement, it could be helpful.

‘I don’t know what your relationship with her is at this time since you fired her.

You will have to be careful that she will co-operate and not go public if you ask her not to be truthful,’ it said.

Ms Wass said that the first mention of ‘untruthfulness’ in relation to the Australian criminal proceedings was made by Mr Singer and asked if Mr Murphy agreed.

Mr Murphy replied: ‘No, because I had had conversations with Amber prior to that.’

Ms Wass continued: ‘The issue of the dogs illegally entering into Australia would have been a problem for Mr Depp?’ Mr Murphy said he agreed.

She added: ‘Mr Depp’s visa into Australia could have been affected if he had been charged with an offence arising out of the illegal entry into Australia of his dog?’ Mr Murphy replied: ‘I don’t know the answer to that.’

Pirates Of The Caribbean filming had been delayed because Depp’s finger was severed

Ms Wass said that Mr Depp’s filming of the Pirates Of The Caribbean sequel ‘had already been interrupted in 2015 (because of) an incident in which his finger was damaged’.

The barrister said that ‘the last thing Mr Depp wanted was any interruptions’ so he would ‘be able to fulfil his contract’.

Ms Wass also said the illegal entry into Australia of the two dogs came to light after ‘somebody posted something on social media’.

She suggested that ‘when this came to light…

Mr Depp arranged that his lawyer in America, Marty Singer, dealt with this’. Mr Murphy replied: ‘I don’t know the answer to that.’

Heard was accused of forcing Depp’s staff to lie on her behalf after she was charged with bringing their Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia illegally.

Estate manager says job was under threat if he did not make a statement exonerating Heard

Mr Murphy said Heard threatened him that his job was under threat if he did not make a statement exonerating her of blame for taking the dogs to Australia in May 2015 and putting it down to errors committed by him and Ms James.

In 2016, Heard and Depp recorded a video apologising for taking their Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia illegally

Heard took the dogs to Australia when she went to visit Depp, who was filming Pirates of the Caribbean at the time. Mr Murphy said that he also lied because he did not want to oppose Heard.