“…e levels is to the three main levels of gravity of a defamatory imputation, identified by this court in Chase v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2002] EWCA Civ 1772, [2003] EMLR 11 namely (1) guilt; (2) reasonable grounds to suspect guilt; and (3) reasonable grounds to investigate whether there is guilt.…”
“…) level 3: there are ‘grounds for investigating whether’ the claimant is guilty of the conduct alleged (see Chase v News Group Newspapers [2002] EWCA Civ 1722, [2003] EMLR 11). These levels calibrate the degree of proof required by the defendant in a defence of truth (c.f. paragraph 27 of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman v Ary Network Limited […”