Day 306 - 26 Nov 96 - Page 48


     
     1        watched a number of pickets and also a number of videos of
     2        pickets and looked at photographs of pickets, it all
     3        becomes a jumbled mess and, in actual fact, you cannot
     4        actually say with any great certainty who was handing out
     5        leaflets on any particular date and, for that matter, what
     6        leaflets they were handing out.  People are quite capable
     7        of convincing themselves that they have seen something
     8        when, in fact, they have not seen it.
     9
    10        Just a couple of additional points in relation to his
    11        second statement.  On page 4 of that statement, paragraph
    12        3, he said:  "If proceedings were to be issued it was
    13        essential not only that we should know the identities of
    14        all the ringleaders but that we should have sufficient
    15        evidence of publication against them all."  The point about
    16        that is, so why not write a detailed statement about the
    17        October 1989 picket at the time, rather than leaving it to
    18        six years after the event?
    19
    20        I cannot remember which photograph this was in, but the
    21        photograph where Mr. Nicholson said the holdall was.
    22        I think it was photograph number 10, and he said there was
    23        a holdall there.  If you actually look at photograph,
    24        I think it is number 17, which was also referred to at the
    25        same time, it is a shot from another angle and there is
    26        not, in fact, a holdall there.  Yet, Mr. Nicholson implied
    27        in his first statement that the holdall had been there
    28        throughout the demonstration.
    29
    30        I think, really, it is pretty clear -- well, it is not my
    31        job to decide whether or not Mr. Nicholson was lying, or
    32        whether he has just got a pretty bad memory, but there is
    33        one thing that is for sure, that his evidence is unreliable
    34        because of all the changes that he has made to it and,
    35        obviously, there are all the ones in the first statement
    36        that I have gone through where he has contradicted that in
    37        his evidence, contradicted what was said in his first
    38        statement when he gave evidence.
    39
    40        I think, just generally, you know, he says he has got a
    41        memory of me distributing the fact sheet and he thinks he
    42        recalls it.  It is very noteworthy that, despite the fact
    43        that Mr. Gravett was mentioned in his first statement, he
    44        does not remember him handing out leaflets in his second
    45        statement, and it may very well be that that is because he
    46        is no longer a party to these proceedings.  So,
    47        Mr. Nicholson does not have to remember it.  As far as his
    48        memory of me distributing the fact sheet, he thinks he
    49        recalls it but the reality is that it is wishful thinking,
    50        that he has just convinced himself of something which he 
    51        just does not know whether or not it happened in reality. 
    52        It is all based on jumbled up memories of lots of different 
    53        pickets and photos and videos, and so on.
    54
    55        I think all the differences that are in the second
    56        statement -- I do not see why we should assume that this
    57        second statement would be any more accurate than the first
    58        statement, which, as we have seen, is pretty inaccurate and
    59        that is particularly so for the second statement, since it
    60        was made even later after the event, over six years later,

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