QB-2022-002648 - [2025] EWHC 2565 (KB)

The Claimant’s evidence

As the consideration of a s4 defence places the focus on the knowledge and actions of the Defendant, the evidence of the Claimant is unlikely to be of much relevance.

In the present case, it seems to me that the only likely relevance of the Claimant’s evidence to the issues which arise from a s4 defence is that it is crystal clear that, if he had been asked, he would have denied all the allegations made against him in strong terms. To take just a single example, the Claimant states with regard to the second publication “I did not meet Asif Ali Zardari during his stay in Lahore, and certainly have not discussed election manipulation with him”. In this regard, if the Defendant had managed to make contact with the Claimant concerning this allegation before publishing it, and the Claimant had provided this response at the time, what would have happened is uncertain. One live possibility, however, is that the Defendant would not have felt confident in publishing the allegation without checking whether his sources were right, and that one matter which the Defendant would have wished to be reassured about was whether they were at least able to provide a convincing rebuttal to the denial that any meeting had taken place. One can only speculate, but these considerations demonstrate why there is often a need to check a story.