Amber Heard will plead not guilty to illegally importing yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia

The two were embroiled in a row in May when the agriculture minister told the dogs to 'bugger off back to the US'

Heard and Depp were in Australia while Depp filmed Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Marotta/Getty Images for Warner Brothers)

Amber Heard said she is “looking forward” to attending court and pleading not guilty to illegal importation after she and her husband Johnny Depp brought their two yorkshire terriers into Australia.

The couple were accused of shunning strict quarantine laws after they brought Pistol and Boo into the country via private jet.

A row ensued and the agricultural minister Barnaby Joyce threatened to euthanise the dogs if they were not removed from the country in under 50 hours.

According to reports, the actress requested an early trial and will plead not guilty to two counts of illegally importing the dogs and one count of producing a false document.

She could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Issuing a statement through her lawyers, Heard said: “My decision to defend these charges, as will become apparent in the appropriate forum of the court, is not intended to in any way diminish the importance of Australia’s laws. I look forward to attending the hearing of these matters,” reports the Guardian.

It is not know if Heard’s husband Depp will attend the trial, which will take place on the Gold Coast. Their lawyers reportedly indicated the couple did not want the 52-year-old’s presence to be “disruptive of this court”.

Through her lawyer, the 29-year-old said she has not attended the latest hearings because she has been told there was “no necessity for me to attend court to date despite my willingness to do so”.

The dogs were allegedly smuggled into Australia in June when Depp was filming the fifth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

After the situation received media attention, Mr Joyce told a press conference: “Mr Depp has to either take his dogs back to California or we’re going to have to euthanise them. It’s time that Pistol and Boo buggered off back to the United States.”

Depp later joked with reporters at the Venice Film Festival he had “killed his dogs and ate them” following “direct orders from some kind of sweaty big-gutted man from Australia”.