Ben King — Direct/Cross/Redirect

BEN KING: Good afternoon

BEN KING: Ben King.

BEN KING: London, Central London

BEN KING: I'm a house manager, personal I assistant, presently, with an individual who also lives in Central London.

BEN KING: Yeah, certainly. There we go.

BEN KING: That's right. Personal assistant, house manager.

BEN KING: I work presently for a gentleman who's in the entertainment industry, who - and I manage I 1 s his property, large apartment in Central London, ! 16 take care of the daily needs and running of the oversight of that stuff, and traveling with him, when needed, and things like that.

BEN KING: Ooh, since about 1991. I started in private services, if you'd like, in-house private services, if you d like, in house I management and butlering, all that stuff.

BEN KING: Correct. I started work in London, was my first big job at Buckingham Palace, oddly Is enough, for four years. And then I continued in different positions full-time and self-employed, freelance capacity for many years as well.

BEN KING: Generally, high net worth people. Individuals or families, residences.

BEN KING: Yes, I am.

BEN KING: I met and worked for Mr. Depp in 2014, and, subsequently, a couple of times after that

BEN KING: Sure. Yes, I -- at that point, I was working in the freelance, self-employed capacity. I was -- a lot of my jobs came through friends of friends, you know, personal recommendations, et cetera. And I was asked, by a friend of a friend, on this occasion, would I be available, A, to go and manage a property where Mr. Depp was going to be staying for about a month in Central London. Was I available, would I be willing to do it. And I was available at that point, and so I said, yes -- yeah, absolutely.

BEN KING: That was August 2014.

BEN KING: I did, yes.

BEN KING: No.

BEN KING: I was paid through a large hotel which p g g was close by to the house, who also -- they provided the housekeeper who was working with us for that month as well, so I was paid through them.

BEN KING: Sure. Yeah. It was the setup of the house, basically. Sorry. Setting up the house initially, which meant ahead of the principals arriving, which meant making sure all the linens were in place for the bedrooms. It was a sizeable property. Just organizing everything ahead of their arrival. Once they arrived, it was the management of that property, the oversight of it, and the day-to-day running, some service, you know, like butler service, and managing the housekeeper day-to-day, through that whole month.

BEN KING: Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard.

BEN KING: This house?

BEN KING: This was in Mayfair, a large townhouse in an old building but it was very contemporary inside, modern. Furnished very modern sort of Is way. Quite spacious, maybe four, five bedrooms, I think, a small indoor pool, a small gym. Quite an open plan layout throughout the house.

BEN KING: For the month, essentially, yes.

BEN KING: Yeah, approximately, it depended on what was going on, but I mean, generally, 7 or 8 in the morning until 7 or 8 in the evening, typically. There was a chef employed as well, Russell, brilliant chef. He tended to stay after I left in the evenings. He would cook dinner, serve dinner, and thankfully cleaned up after dinner so I could leave sort of early to mid evening, usually, most days.

BEN KING: Unless we had guests. Sorry, unless we had guests or other things going on.

BEN KING: Yes, absolutely.

BEN KING: Most daily, I would say. Pretty much most days through that period.

BEN KING: Yes. Also daily, I would say.

BEN KING: Ms. Heard was there. Mr. Depp was the reason, I think, they rented the house, because Mr. Depp was working at a studio. I think it was Mortdecai, the movie. So Ms. Heard was there at the house most of the days. Mr. Depp often went to work and came back later on in that evening, that day.

BEN KING: Initially, very loving towards each other. Nice couple. Mr. Depp was always a gentleman and keen to make sure Ms. Heard was taken care of, anything she needed. Often poured a glass of wine for her, just nice, you know, pleasant.

BEN KING: I think very well. Yeah, they were very open to me. And, I mean, my background is quite formal, so it was quite an informal setting. It was - I was able to ask questions to either of them. Ms. Heard, especially, was really helpful to get information about what time they wanted dinner, you know, basic stuff like that, or dinner, you know, basic stuff like that, or anything. It was good interaction all the time with the both of them.

BEN KING: Sure. When I started that job or when observe either of them consume alcohol over the I was taking that job on, I was told, I think, by Mr. Depp's assistant that he was -

BEN KING: Oh, sorry.

BEN KING: I was made aware.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Sure. I didn't see Mr. Heard- Mr. Depp, excuse me, consume any alcohol during that time in London. There was a large confinement of wine that had been delivered to the house at the start of the visit, many cases, I had to store, I had to find a place to store. And generally speaking, on a day-to-day, about one or two boxes of red wine were consumed per day. I think that's fair to say.

BEN KING: No, I didn't.

BEN KING: Yes, I did

BEN KING: Daily.

BEN KING: Very much so, yes.

BEN KING: Towards me?

BEN KING: Oh, yes I did.

BEN KING: I can describe two of them, certainly. There were a few arguments during that month.

BEN KING: Okay. The first one I remember was an evening, actually both the ones I recall were - I was close to were evenings. The first particular evening, the couple had agreed to go out for dinner, I guess. I know the car was waiting and- in the little courtyard there, ready for them to go, and security was waiting to take them. I was waiting to see them out into the cars on the foot of the - on the ground level, ground floor level to wait to see them out, essentially.

BEN KING: And I heard - the first thing I heard was Ms. Heard shouting upstairs in the master suite, where they were getting ready to leave. I heard her shout something, I don't recall what, you know. I was in the vicinity, I wasn't really there to listen. And I heard footsteps, loud footsteps sort of going across, there's, like, a corridor, if you like, to the top of those stairs that went around the master suite. Loud footsteps and then more footsteps following, more shouting. And that sort of went on for some time. I mean, I knew what time they needed to leave. I don't recall what time that was, but they- I knew they were supposed to have left already, and it went on for a bit.

BEN KING: Not necessarily. I mean, I know that they left eventually, albeit late. I don't know how it really resolved, as I made myself busy but not going too far away from the door, make sure I saw them out.

BEN KING: Second one, I was pretty much in the same vicinity, the same room, on the ground floor. Again, the couple were in the TV room, I think, which was off the main sitting room, early evening, and I was going about my early evening duties, replenishing drinks close by, lighting the fire, lighting candles, whatever it might have been. I was close enough to hear Ms. Heard say "Why did you take your hand away from me, Johnny? Do you love me anymore?" Like, not in a playful way I might add. And I think he replied "Of course I do. Don't be silly. Of course I do."

BEN KING: And it kind of launched from that point. And at one point, Mr. Depp got up and went to the bathroom or went upstairs and I was sort of scuttling around out of the way because, you know, I wasn't there listening, I was just there doing my stuff in and around them. Yeah, it was a strange, sort of bizarre way to start an argument, but ...

BEN KING: Accusatory. Spoiled teenage child, maybe. Is that fair? Not playfully, let's put it that way. More angrily.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: No, I didn't

BEN KING: No, neither of them

BEN KING: I did. A couple of occasions. The following year was the first one, the following spring.

BEN KING: In Australia.

BEN KING: In Australia maybe, but not unusual for me to travel with - for clients for my me to travel with for clients for my assignments, to wherever it was needed.

BEN KING: Towards the end of the London visit, Mr. Depp had kindly said, thanks so much for looking after us, we really like you. Maybe if you're free next year and we can arrange it, we can make it happen. Perhaps you'll be able to come to Australia with us, I've got a film, Pirates 5. So I said, great, I'd love to, obviously. I was freelance at the time so it was going to be about four months work. I think it was billed up, so, I thought, yes, I wouldn't mind some of that. Thank you very much.

BEN KING: Gold Coast. It's an area - Brisbane was the main airport. So, about an hour's drive south of Brisbane.

BEN KING: I arrived on February the 4th. I know April 25, 2022 ,1 I flew in on that day.

BEN KING: Much the same. Just on a bigger scale. The house was larger. There was a bit more setup to do. But, essentially, the same oversight of Is the house, responsible for it during the whole gig.

BEN KING: No.

BEN KING: Essentially, by Disney, the production company affiliated with Disney who were making the movie. I think their name was Herschel (phonetic), was the production company.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: The setup for me, for us was about a few weeks. I think they arrived towards the end lS of February, 2015.

BEN KING: Just setting up the house. I lived on site. There was a guesthouse on site, two-bedroom, single-story guesthouse that I stayed in for those first couple weeks, setting up the house and just getting everything ready during that time. Then I moved out to apartments, which we all had - we, I mean a lot of the crew, the chef had an apartment. We all had apartments about a 30-minute drive south of the house.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Yes. It was a large house on a few acres of land, three-story house, five bedrooms with two or three buildings on - within the grounds as well. A good size house, beautiful house. Beautiful location.

BEN KING: Entrances? Many. I mean, many on - on the lower ground level, out to the garden; on the first or on the main floor level, there was many entrances. I mean, every room in that house had a balcony, at least. Every room on the lower ground floor had a sliding door, a door out. The utility room, the garage, the gym, the - everything. Obviously, the front door. Many. On the main level, large glass sliding doors out to the pool area, which had a gazebo and steps down to the ground.

BEN KING: Staying in the house? No.

BEN KING: On the property, yes. I mean, there was a couple there -- caretaking couple, Sean and his wife, Saundra, who worked for the owner of the house. They lived on site, essentially, all the time. They were there pretty much throughout, and their house was whatever, couple hundred yards away from the main house. And, yes, security was there also.

BEN KING: Under five minutes. Yeah, no more than five minutes.

BEN KING: Security was set up by Jerry Judge. They reported -- they stayed in the grounds for the duration. They didn't come in the house. They had a little sort of shack, right by the perimeter wall, where they would do their -- start their patrols from, walk around the grounds, around the exterior of the house at certain times of the day, write their reports and go back and stand there, their shack.

BEN KING: I think one in the day, one in the Is night. So, 12 hours about, as I remember it.

BEN KING: Yes, definitely.

BEN KING: They were Australian, yes.

BEN KING: Correct. I kept the same hours as I did in London, essentially, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, not quite, but 7:00 a.m. to evening, until everything was set up and I could leave.

BEN KING: Yes. Of course.

BEN KING: Initially, very good Like in London, seemed very pleasant towards each other. ,7

BEN KING: Yes. Several.

BEN KING: Yes. Similar pattern, it seemed, to London arguments. One in particular was very similar to the second one in London. Started in the TV room, funny enough, loud, loud voices and Mr. Depp leaving the room, shutting the door, going to another room to play his guitar or, you know, to a bathroom, whatever, and Ms. Heard closely following and opening the door or certainly rapping on the door, it seemed to continue.

BEN KING: Several. I was there for several months, so certainly many more than in London.

BEN KING: Yes. Again, Ms. Heard, again, my responsible -- part of the responsibility was to provision the house and have everything set up for that, so I regularly brought red wine for Ms. Heard. What she consumed, you know, the same amount as in London, I think.

BEN KING: Generally speaking. One or two bottles a day.

BEN KING: Sorry.

BEN KING: It was essentially a normal Friday, if you'd like, end of the week, yay. Nothing extraordinary about that day.

BEN KING: Yeah. Yeah, I was there.

BEN KING: I remember taking a photo of the beautiful sunset over the pool, the sun was set over the pool and the creek, and I took a photo of that early evening, so 6:30, 7, I would think. I wouldn't have left much later than that.

BEN KING: I don't think so. I think Mr. Depp was at the studio still on that day. I can't remember sort of seeing him to say good-bye, you know, have a good weekend.

BEN KING: Yes, she was.

BEN KING: Yeah. I would say something pretty unusual happened.

BEN KING: Yeah, I can.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: All right.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Right.

BEN KING: Sunday, the 8th.

BEN KING: At the house.

BEN KING: Monday through Friday from 7:00 or 8:00 a.m until the end of the day each evening, late evening, usually.

BEN KING: I was called to the house by one of Mr. Depp's assistants.

BEN KING: Around 2:00, 2:30.

BEN KING: Debbie Lloyd was there, Dave Kipper was there, Amber Heard was there, Jerry Judge was there.

BEN KING: Sure Debbie Lloyd was a nurse David Kipper was Dr David Kipper Ms Heard was Ms Heard and Jerry Judge was head of security

BEN KING: I just parked up and went into the house.

BEN KING: Yeah. I mean, initially, I walked into the front door. Initially, I heard, rather than saw anything. I could hear pretty hysterical sobbing, crying, which sounded like Ms. Heard to me. I heard Jerry Judge's voice. There's a few steps as you go up into the house, so you can't immediately see what's going on. So I went up the steps. I could see them, Ms. Heard, over on the right-hand side, toward the TV room, with Jerry Judge, David Kipper was in the kitchen area, which was pretty much directly ahead as you walk up those steps.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Absolutely.

BEN KING: Hysterical. Probably the best way to describe it. Crying a lot and, you know, just crying uncontrollably, I think it's fair to say.

BEN KING: He was keeping her calm, saying it's I all right, love, it will be all right. Jerry was good. Big heart, Jerry. Good guy. He was calm, Jerry was always calm - well, mostly.

BEN KING: I saw them engaged across the way there, so I went into the main kitchen area, 1117 which, as I said, was just directly ahead of those main steps, and spoke to David Kipper.

BEN KING: Well, he told me that Mr. Depp -

BEN KING: I spoke to David Kipper, who was in the kitchen area, seemingly rummaging through a bin. He said Mr. Depp had sustained an injury to his finger, one of his fingers, and he was looking for the fingertip. He said it had been severed.

BEN KING: So, I said, well, shall I help you?

BEN KING: You know, as one would. And he said, yeah, that would be a good idea. I left him in the kitchen. He said there was a lot more damage downstairs. So I went to -- you know, we split up. I left him Is in the kitchen, I went downstairs to search.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: I did.

BEN KING: Downstairs in the bar area, the games room, bar area.

BEN KING: Yes. So I walked down the stairs, there's a bit of damage down the steps, a big chunk had been taken out of the marble staircase. On my way down, remnants of what looked like a plant pot or something around it smashed. Walking down into the bar, I could see the damage that Dr. Kipper had told me about, a broken ping-pong table had collapsed on to the floor, lots of grass, broken glass and cans strewn around the bar area.

BEN KING: Directly below the bar. I mean, the bar -- the setup like a conventional bar, that is stuck out from a wall, and with a marble top, there was a big chunk out of that as well, like on the staircase. Directly at the end of the bar, there was a scrunched up piece of kitchen paper, if you'd like, tissue, with lots of blood around it, on it. So I thought that's probably a pretty good place to look. And it was within that scrunched up piece of paper on the tiled floor at the end of the bar, the base of the bar, by one of the barstools.

BEN KING: Yes, a fair bit. On the floor, around the area, there were puddles of what smelled like alcohol to me. There seemed like several drinking glasses, a couple of bottles, one was Stolichnaya, a vodka bottle. And at the end of the bar, as I said, there's a big chunk out of the bar itself, the bar marble top. At the end of the bar, there was plaster damage right at the end of the bar, on the wall behind the bar, it was smashed and cracked. There's a blue mirror that stretched that whole span of behind the bar. Lots of cans, again, behind the bar on the floor, broken window at the end of the bar, and more plaster work damage on the wall above the sink; it's sort of a kitchenette, bar, if you'd like, as well.

BEN KING: No. No. Nothing was really intact. The top of it, you know, the top of the bottle has, like, the label on it, which is how I knew it was a Stolichnaya bottle, had that sort of squiggly S, sort of yellow top. There was a large chunk of the bottle, where, I guess, was the rest of that, and several other - I mean, lots of other broken glass around the area.

BEN KING: Well, I covered it up in that kitchen paper, took it upstairs, I might have shouted up to David Kipper I found it, I'm not sure, but I walked back upstairs to the kitchen. And put it - got a bag, you know, little plastic bag, put the fingertip in there, set it on top of some ice in this plastic kitchen container, and pretty much handed it over to David Kipper and Jerry Judge, I think, at the time, who were keen to get it to the hospital quickly to see if it could be reattached.

BEN KING: It was about an hour after I got there, so it would have been around 3:30, I would think, 3:20, 3:30.

BEN KING: Yes.

BEN KING: Sure. Do you want me to start at the lower ground floor in that bar area? I mean, I described it a lot.

BEN KING: It was pretty extensive down there, all that broken glass, the blood. There were a lot of blood drips across that floor, as it was a kind of cream-colored tile floor in that whole game area. As I said, the ping-pong table was collapsed. Blood drips across the floor and around the bar, and the damage on the walls, as I said, the plaster work at the end of the bar, behind the bar, and the chunk out of the marble top. So, on the ground, that was the predominant damage in that area, on that level.

BEN KING: The next floor, the main floor, where David Kipper was, be it in the kitchen itself, again, a few broken glasses and cans on the floor, soda cans behind the kitchen island, chefs kitchen island, liquid, puddles. There was a sitting room with a cream-colored couch, which had a fair amount of blood drops on the cushions, and that was obvious. The TV, which I was directly in front of that, wall-mounted TV, it was cracked with seemed like remnants of a coffee cup embedded in some of it, and the rest, below, looked like coffee splattered behind and underneath the TV, and on the floor as well. Through there, it's an art studio, so a lot of the art materials from that, you know, paintbrushes, paint, various art materials were on the floor.

BEN KING: A lot of paint on the floor, blood drips throughout that area as well, especially over the, it was a vast sort of wooden pocket door, so there was a lot of oil paint and blood drips up to the staircase.

BEN KING: In one of the bedrooms, there were two bedrooms off of the main kitchen area, one of those bedrooms had blood drips on the duvet and the lamp had seemingly been broken, the shade was removed. There were a couple of lamp shades in that -- in the art studio area on the floor. That was about the extent of the damage. Going up the stairs to the next level, there was a few blood smears on the wall and on the - drips up the stairs going up, again, the cream-colored carpet, which is not ideal. And, so, the top floor was the master bedroom, master suite floor, and two bedrooms also up there.

BEN KING: Outside the master bedroom, there was damage to the plaster work on the pillar outside on the wall, blood drips into the master bedroom, across the master bedroom floor. Going into the master bathroom, there was - there was a his-and-her sink and a mirror, large mirror above each of the sinks, that had writing on each of them. Again, one of the bedrooms or both of the bedrooms, I think, had blood on the duvet covers and another lamp was broken. Mr. Depp's guitar was in one of those bedrooms, bloodstained guitar. His iPad was standing up on one of the beds in one of the bedrooms.

BEN KING: That's, I mean, that's about the extent of it.

BEN KING: On each level, yeah.

BEN KING: Well, it was mine. It was my responsibility. The house was, essentially, my responsibility.

BEN KING: I had a pretty good idea, as I walked around and saw it all, yes.

BEN KING: No.

BEN KING: The owners, they left their art in the house, yes. Mr. Depp and Ms. Heard had done some ,2 artwork themselves, yes. But, yes, there were some that came with the house, if you'd like.

BEN KING: AQ Focusing just on the artwork that came with the house.

BEN KING: No. Nothing that I needed to repair or ,10 replace. Certainly not. Thank goodness.

BEN KING: Just a little blood, a lot of repairs. Just the floors were quite heavy with blood and paint, yeah.

BEN KING: No.

BEN KING: Yeah, that's one of the mirrors I was telling you about in the master bathroom.

BEN KING: I cleaned both of those mirrors at some I point that evening, that night, yes.

BEN KING: That was the same oil paint that was on the floor, the parquet floor downstairs, and various other areas, the same oil paint.

BEN KING: Lipstick, I believe.

BEN KING: Certainly seemed like lipstick to me. Red lipstick. It was quite waxy. I remember taking that off. It seemed like lipstick.

BEN KING: Quite a long time. It actually went into the early hours of Monday morning, so, at least, I got there around 2 in the afternoon of Sunday. I don't think I left there until 2 or 3:00 the next morning of the night.

BEN KING: Yes. I certainly did. Yes.

BEN KING: Yeah, not too much, initially. She was very, as I said, quite hysterical and crying a lot, and Jerry Judge was taking care of her, keeping her calm. But later in the evening, it was - it was suggested that Ms. Heard go to a local hotel, to leave the house to go to a local hotel, which then became a suggestion that she go back to LA. And that's when, I think, I started interacting in terms of, at some point, I volunteered to travel with her to LA.

BEN KING: She was resistant to both of those suggestions, very resistant, really didn't want to go. She said, I can't leave. I can't leave. It will be the end if I leave. Those sorts of I! Is things. And so, it was just - these went over a few hours, those negotiations, if you'd like. And eventually, Ms. Heard agreed that I would fly with her.

BEN KING: I did. On Monday, the 9th. i were interacting with her on that Sunday, were I you -- how close were you to her?

BEN KING: Very close. You know, like, very close. In front of her.

BEN KING: No. None whatsoever.

BEN KING: No. I mean, she was obviously crying a I lot. She had red eyes and - but, no. Otherwise, ' 12000. ;21

BEN KING: Right. So, I mean, it was eventually agreed that I would fly with Ms. Heard. So I had to, at some point, go back to my apartment, drive to my apartment to pick up my passport, which, fondly enough, I hadn't brought with me, and some clothes, you know, a bag to take. So I think I left the house early hours, as I said, two or three, may have been a bit later, a.m. I drove back to my apartment, which was a 30 minutes' drive south, picked up those things.

BEN KING: I mean, I didn't know what I was - how long I was going to go for, but I knew I was traveling, so passport, quick shower, pick up a bag of clothes. And then I drove back up to the house. I don't recall exactly what time I arrived there, but I know we had to leave. All the arrangements were being made by the travel agent, and Jerry Judge was liaisoning with them to make the flight arrangements, which, I believe, was going mid to late morning. So I think we had to leave the house around 7 or 8:00 a.m. that morning, Monday the 9th.

BEN KING: Yes. With-yes, we were driven.

BEN KING: Calmed down a fair bit. She was mostly on the phone, to be honest, for pretty much the whole of that car journey, to various people, one of which, I believe, was Mr. Depp.

BEN KING: Nothing really mentioned in that - as way of an explanation, no.

BEN KING: We were running a bit late, I remember that. Luckily, we were traveling first class so the driver knew to pull up to kind of VIP, for want of a better word, VIP checking point, and, so, the car got pretty close to where the desk was. Ms. Heard was still on the phone and so we was. Ms. Heard was still on the phone and so we sat there for a bit with the driver, and Ms. Heard was talking. I don't know who to, at that point. And I was thinking, oh, we need to make this flight, actually, pretty soon because we were already running a bit late.

BEN KING: So I decided to go in, maybe I could go in, check in our bags ahead, and then come back and get Ms. Heard and she should be finished by then. Which is what I did.

BEN KING: Eventually, we did. It was a close call, to be honest.

BEN KING: Yes. I mean, not initially, which took some time in the bathroom. She was on the phone, again, to the point where the cabin crew had to sort of tap on the door and say we need to leave now. Everybody needs to sit down. And she did come to sit down, you know, after 10 or 15 minutes in there. And so, eventually, and luckily, as I said, we were flying first class, which is lovely. She was in the window seat, like, I think, 1A, 1B, window seat. I had aisle seat. And finally, we could both sit down and in way of conversation, it wasn't a great deal, to be honest. I did sort of say, finally, so what happened? And, obviously, referring to the house. And I mean, she didn't give much explanation, if any. She did say, Ben, have you ever been so angry with someone that you just lost it with them? And I sort of said, no, actually. I'm a pretty calm, you know, even-tempered guy. But she did repeat it.

BEN KING: She looked pretty incredulous that I hadn't. She repeated it. You mean you've never lost it where somebody-- got so angry with someone that you just lost it with them? I said, not unless you count the time when I was 14 years old and I hit the light switch in my bedroom because I wasn't allowed out that night or something. With a person, no, never. And that was pretty much the end of the conversation. She dropped it then.

BEN KING: To me? Incredulous, be fair to say. Surprised that I hadn't lost it with somebody.

BEN KING: It was fairly calm. After that, it was calm. I mean, we were both exhausted. I certainly was, and I think - I can't remember eating either. Just slept most of the flight until, obviously, we landed or close to landing.

BEN KING: Yes, I did. Right. Just before we landed, I noticed some marks on her arm, her left forearm.

BEN KING: Long, kind of uniform, evenly spaced, sort of long, thin, marks. Very uniform, in fact.

BEN KING: On the plane towards coming into s landing. They were gathering the stuff up. I noticed them then.

BEN KING: Once I fired up my phone on landing, I saw the arrangements that we would be picked up by one of Mr. Depp's security personnel, who I think was Travis McGivern -- McGovern -- McGivern. So I made contact with him and he met us in the place that had been arranged. We walked through the, you know, the arrivals lounge and met him at the end of that. Got in the car with him and drove to the Eastern Columbia Building.

BEN KING: Yeah, very calm. I mean, she seemed -- I mean, obviously, a lot calmer from the house, but she was pleasant towards Travis, certainly, in the car. Obviously, they knew each other. She was -- when we got to the building, she was kind enough to show me around the apartment. I'd never been before. She showed me around the penthouse, a little tour. She wrote down some restaurant recommendations because she knew I'd be staying a recommendations because she knew I d be staying a few days probably. And I didn't really know LA that well. So she recommended a few restaurants. And then I left, I said, if you need anything, as usual, as I always did, if you need anything, give me a shout. I'll be staying fairly close by. Just give me a call or a text.

BEN KING: Less than a week. I think I flew back to Australia on the 14th or 15th. So about five days, six days tops.

BEN KING: Pretty much putting the house back together and repairing all the damage with the help of professional contractors, vendors I brought in, and just getting the house back as it was originally.

BEN KING: Yes, they did.

BEN KING: Yes. April 25, 2022

BEN KING: Yes, yep.

BEN KING: Again, initially, the first few days was certainly very pleasant, almost honeymoon like, I would say. They strolled around the grounds a bit and they seemed fine with each other.

BEN KING: Yes. I mean, many. Several more. Yeah.

BEN KING: Not dissimilar to the London arguments, in terms of the pattern of things. You know, the sort of provocation and the reaction to leave the room, Mr. Depp leaving the room, going to another room, playing his guitar. Seemed to follow the same pattern as that -- as I witnessed those two times in London.

BEN KING: Good afternoon.

BEN KING: Initially, together, I don't think so. I think Mr. Depp arrived ahead of Ms. Heard, actually.

BEN KING: I think so, yes.

BEN KING: I can't remember the date she arrived, I to be honest.

BEN KING: Sorry, what was the question?

BEN KING: It's possible, I suppose.

BEN KING: I saw them argue.

BEN KING: I saw them argue in April and through most of the months they were there, yes.

BEN KING: Specific days, not necessarily, no.

BEN KING: Specific days, not necessarily, no.

BEN KING: I think there were. I mean ...

BEN KING: I think there were.

BEN KING: Specifically, the day? Not necessarily, no.

BEN KING: Wrapped. I mean, it was loosely wrapped. The paper was open by that point, the blood had dried up and it was sitting in this sort of nest of this paper.

BEN KING: I don't know. I mean, it was in that piece of paper. It was in a piece of paper. But,

BEN KING: I don't know. It was within that scrunched up piece of paper. Kitchen paper, tissue.

BEN KING: Tissue paper. It was white with a lot of blood on it.

BEN KING: Like a piece of kitchen towel.

BEN KING: Like kitchen, paper, towel, like a tissue.

BEN KING: Yes, in both areas of the kitchen and the bar.

BEN KING: Correct. I arrived on the 4th of February.

BEN KING: Correct.

BEN KING: No, I didn't.

BEN KING: Marilyn Manson didn't come to the house. I didn't see him at any point.

BEN KING: I don't know. I didn't always know where he was going when he went out. It was either to work or security would go with him I wouldn't generally go. In fact, I don't think I went out with him at all in Australia.

BEN KING: I don't recall it. I saw him on set once or twice, yeah.

BEN KING: I saw him at the house, yes, every day.

BEN KING: Generally, going to work on Pirates of the Caribbean 5, yes.

BEN KING: No, the security was with him I had to liaison with them for when he would go, when he would come back for the driver, et cetera.

BEN KING: Generally, I didn't go, didn't leave the house with Mr. Depp on those days, no.

BEN KING: Sorry. Say again.

BEN KING: Correct, yeah.

BEN KING: At some point, he flew to LA, yes.

BEN KING: Again, that sounds about that time. I don't know the specific date. I don't recall.

BEN KING: I didn't-

BEN KING: What, sir?

BEN KING: I wasn't involved in the filming schedule. I don't know when it resumed, to be honest. I knew Mr. Depp came back to resume filming for sure.

BEN KING: Live with? No, I wasn't a resident 1119 there. e 20

BEN KING: Yes. The course of -yeah, after I Yes. The course of yeah, after I arrived, yes.

BEN KING: Chaos? I mean, there was a fair amount of damage.

BEN KING: There was a lot of damage in the house, yes.

BEN KING: In a few areas, mainly, predominantly in the bar, yeah, down in the lower ground floor, correct.

BEN KING: In various places, there was blood on the floor, blood on the walls.

BEN KING: No. I wouldn't say that was the extent of it. There was smears up the staircase going up to the master from the main level. There was smears and drips on the carpet.

BEN KING: Up to the third floor, yes.

BEN KING: There was blood going up the stairs, up the steps, on the staircase, and some on the wall, you know, smears, where he might have done that, yeah.

BEN KING: Yeah, maybe. I don't know.

BEN KING: Or down. Is that

BEN KING: Correct, yes.

BEN KING: One sofa in that sitting room, which was just off the kitchen, it was quite an open plan thing, so you have that. There was a sofa with a large TV on a - a wall-mounted TV in front of that sofa.

BEN KING: By the main kitchen, correct.

BEN KING: Blood.

BEN KING: Some lamps, a couple of lamps, yes.

BEN KING: Sorry, what do you mean?

BEN KING: Yes. I mean, I don't completely understand what you mean.

BEN KING: There were alcohol bottles, yes. In the fridge, I mean, there may have been a bottle of wine. I don't know.

BEN KING: Ruined? I mean, there was a lot of damage on the floor down in the bar area, and the staircase and on the main floor area, the wooden parquet floor, correct.

BEN KING: I eventually got them sanded, yes.

BEN KING: Correct.

BEN KING: The existing paintings from the owners ! from the house, no. None of them were damaged.

BEN KING: I did not. And thankfully that was something I didn't have to replace or anything else.

BEN KING: I mean, I would have seen it. 1 16

BEN KING: I'm sorry.

BEN KING: Correct.

BEN KING: Correct.

BEN KING: Yes, he was.

BEN KING: Yes, she was.

BEN KING: The housekeeper?

BEN KING: The resident housekeeper, yes, she was going to be. I mean, yes, she was employed through the week. Again, she wasn't there on weekends.

BEN KING: Thank you.

BEN KING: Sorry.

BEN KING: I know that when I left to fly to LA with Ms. Heard, I told both the chef and the housekeeper they didn't need to be coming to the house because Ms. Heard, essentially, the principals weren't there, Mr. Depp wasn't there, Ms. Heard was obviously with me at that point, so I said they didn't need to come to the house.

BEN KING: I think I probably made a comment about, you know, I should just come back and deal with this myself, if that's what you mean, and just kept cleaning up.

BEN KING: I don't know. We trusted - I trusted Th d I er an t e c e anyway. They were good team members.

BEN KING: High profile, high net worth, I believe, is what I actually said.

BEN KING: Of course, that's part of my job, ! 11 discretion.