Depp v Heard: the unreal story extract chapters 1-2

The Uk Trial 5
absolutely necessary. The whole world was a mess. But now the news
desk was sending me to cover a celebrity libel trial at the High Court,
brought by an American movie star. This would be unusual at the best of
times. During an apparent apocalypse, it seemed almost preposterous.
‘He’s not going to actually be there, is he?’ I asked.
‘We think so,’ replied my ever-knowledgeable editor. ‘He’s definitely
in the country.’
I read into the story, and the next morning travelled up to London
on an empty train. As soon as I saw the snappers lined up along the
temporary crush barriers outside the Royal Courts of Justice, I realised
Depp was almost certainly going to be there. Paps don’t go where the
story isn’t. But they did look incongruous – as if they’d been teleported
from the centre of a buzzy celebrity premiere to an almost wholly deserted
central London.
Inside the normally bustling Royal Courts of Justice Great Hall, it
was eerily quiet. To aid social distancing, five separate courts had been
set aside for Depp v NGN. The main Court 13 was for the judge, the
protagonists and the important lawyers. An overspill court was handed
to less important lawyers. Two (initially under-populated) courts
were given to spectators and one court in the completely separate West
Green Wing was reserved for the perennial dirt on the legal system’s
shoe – reporters.
To be fair, Court 38 was spacious, air-conditioned and comfortable.
Plug sockets, rare as hen’s teeth in the nineteenth-century main courts,
were plentiful and easy to access. I took a seat among twenty or so fellow
hacks, and decided I would have a pop at live-tweeting the trial.
Accredited journalists and legal commentators are allowed to livetweet
court proceedings in the UK without first asking the permission
of the presiding judge. I figured a court case featuring Johnny Depp
might be of interest to the twittersphere, and I was sure Channel 5
wouldn’t mind me offering a blow-by-blow commentary, especially as
I could point any new and existing followers towards the evening news
programme and my end-of-day TV report.
I asked my colleagues, by now all seated in Court 38, if Johnny
Depp had definitely turned up. There were murmurs of affirmation.
One reporter produced his phone and showed me a freshly-published
paparazzi shot of the star making his way up the steps of the main entrance
to the Royal Courts of Justice. Depp was wearing shades and a
bandana face mask. He looked cool. I plugged in my laptop, booted up
TweetDeck and established a connection to the outside world with my
mobile phone. I told my followers where I was and why, adding that