The Madeleine McCann mystery is full of big questions. None more important than how does a little girl vanish off the face of the earth, never to be seen again?

Johnny Depp's agent has testified that his ex-wife's 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post describing herself as a victim of domestic abuse was “catastrophic” to his career and coincided with the loss of a US$23 ($32m) million deal for a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel.

Amber Heard's lawyers pushed back aggressively against the agent's assertion on cross-examination, suggesting that the article was inconsequential amid a stream of bad publicity for Depp brought on by his own bad behaviour.

Depp is suing Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court, saying her article defamed him when she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article never mentions Depp by name, but Depp's lawyers say he was defamed nevertheless because it's a clear reference to abuse allegations Heard levied in 2016.

In testimony, agent Jack Whigham said Depp was still able to work after the initial allegations made against him in 2016. He was paid $8 million for “City Of Lies," $10 million for “Murder on the Orient Express” and $13.5 million for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” all of which shot in 2017, albeit under contracts reached prior to the allegations made against him.

But he said The Washington Post piece was uniquely damaging to Depp's career.

“It was a first-person account, extremely impactful,” Whigham said of the op-ed.

After that, he said Depp struggled to get any kind of work. He had to take a pay cut — down to $3 million — to do the independent film “Minimata," and a $22.5 million verbal deal he had with Disney for a sixth “Pirates” film was scuttled, Whigham said.

On cross-examination, though, Heard's lawyers asked whether the “Pirates” deal had already gone south by the time Heard's article was published. Whigham acknowledged he never had a written deal for Depp to appear in a sixth “Pirates" film." And while he said “Pirates” producer Jerry Bruckheimer talked favourably throughout 2018 about Depp coming back to the franchise, Disney executives were noncommittal at best.

By early 2019 — weeks after Heard's op-ed — Whigham said it was clear that Depp's role in any “Pirates” film was scuttled and that producers were instead looking to move ahead with Margot Robbie in a lead role.

Heard's lawyers have cited a variety of factors — including reports of heavy drug and alcohol use, a lawsuit by a crew member in July 2018 who says he was punched on set by Depp, and a separate libel lawsuit Depp filed against a British newspaper in 2018 — as things that damaged Depp's image more than the Post article.

For Depp's Virginia lawsuit to be successful, he not only needs to show that he was falsely accused, but he also needs to show that the op-ed piece — not Heard's abuse allegations in 2016 when she filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order — is what caused the damage.

Depp's lawyers also presented testimony from an intellectual property expert who testified about the negative turn in Depp's reputation. But his own data, showing trend lines from Google searches, showed negative spikes occurring after the 2016 abuse allegations, but negligible or non-existent changes after the Post article.

The trial has now entered its fourth week. Much of the testimony during the first three weeks centered on the volatile relationship between Depp and Heard. Depp says he has never struck Heard. Her lawyers said during the trial's opening statements that she was physically and sexually abused by Depp on multiple occasions.

Heard is expected to testify later this week.

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a jail official they say helped an inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge to escape from an Alabama jail.

Inmate Casey Cole White, 38, was shackled and handcuffed when he and Vicky White, the facility's assistant director of corrections, left the Lauderdale County Detention Centre in Florence, Alabama, on Friday morning.

They have not been seen since, although the patrol vehicle the pair, who are not related, used when leaving the detention centre was found at a nearby shopping centre parking lot after their absence was discovered.

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Authorities have no idea where they are, although the inmate should be recognisable by his size. He stands 2.06m tall and weighs about 118kg.

Authorities warned anyone seeing the pair should not approach them.

"We consider both of them dangerous and in all probability, both individuals are armed," US Marshal Marty Keely said at a press conference on Monday.

He noted White "will stand out" because of his size even if he has changed his appearance.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday they had issued an arrest warrant for Ms White on charges of permitting or allowing an escape.

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She violated a policy that required more than one official to be involved in transporting him, according to Sheriff Singleton.

The policy was put in place when White was jailed two years ago and authorities believed he was planning to escape.

"We know she participated, whether she did that willingly or if she was coerced, threatened somehow to participate in the case, not really sure. We know for sure she did participate," Sheriff Singleton said.

Ms White told co-workers she was taking him to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation.

But Sheriff Singleton later said no such evaluation was scheduled. He said video showed the pair left the jail and went straight to that parking lot.

"Casey White, as you've heard me say over and over and over is an extremely dangerous person and we need to get him located and get him off the street," Sheriff Singleton said.

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White was already serving a prison sentence for attempted murder and burglary when he disappeared.

He was set to go to trial next month for stabbing a 58-year-old woman to death. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

The US Marshals Service is offering up to $10,000 for information.

The sheriff said police were shocked by the events that transpired.

"This is not the Vicky White we know, by any stretch of the imagination," the sheriff said.

Sheriff Singleton said Ms White had been an exemplary employee and jail employees are "just devastated".

Ms White had planned to retire and that Friday was to be her last day. He said she had sold her home about a month ago and "talked about going to the beach".

The sheriff said officers had no leads at this point on where the two were located.

"If we knew where they were at, we would be there and not here," Sheriff Singleton said.