Libel and slander – Defamatory words. Applying settled law to the facts, an article published in the Times Newspaper, in its true meaning, was defamatory of the claimant senior prosecutor's professional reputation at common law and had a tendency to cause serious harm to her professional reputation. The Queen's Bench Division so ruled in considering three preliminary issues which arose for determination in a libel action. The article in question concerned the decision to prosecute the English cricketer, Ben Stokes, who was later found not guilty of affray in relation an incident outside a nightclub in Bristol.