I am given to understand that, at the time of their divorce, a joint statement was issued to the effect that neither had made any false accusations during proceedings. This, to my mind, is an acknowledgment that one at lest of them had been, to some degree, abusive or violent to the other. That should then have been the end of the matter, by mutual agreement.

What prompted Ms Heard to later go on record speaking of her ex-husband as a 'wife-beater' I do not know. However, it's clear that Mr Depp regarded her actions as a breach of a previous agreement and a deliberate attack on his career and reputation.

The resulting conflict has spiralled out of control, and there will be no winners.

That said, some of Ms Heards' statements are problematic, inasmuch as the precise correlation between the information she has communicated and the facts, insofar as they can be determined and demonstrated, is such as to cause epistemological problems, of sufficient magnitude as to lay upon the logical and semantic resources of the English language a heavier burden than they can reasonably be expected to bear.