Day 203 - 12 Jan 96 - Page 69


     
     1
     2   Q.   Then you went on holiday after that, did you?
     3        A.  I mean, yes, OK, yes.
     4
     5   Q.   It is all right.
     6        A.  I vaguely remember, to be honest with you.  I delayed
     7        my holiday actually for some other reason so .....
     8
     9   Q.   Right.  OK.  You did go on holiday in the end though?
    10        A.  Yes, this December I went on holiday.  I had two
    11        holidays.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Is there some great point about the holiday
    14        which is completely passing me by?
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:  I was a just a bit amazed whether he could not
    17        remember whether he had been on holiday five weeks ago.
    18        That was all.  It just seemed a bit strange to me.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know.  Holidays seem to disappear
    21        from one's recollection all too quickly, in my experience.
    22        I mean, if there is some great significance in the holiday,
    23        let me into the secret, or is it just how good Mr. Skehel's
    24        recollection is?
    25
    26   MR. MORRIS:  It is relevant because the Plaintiffs in their
    27        solicitor's letter to us basically had no knowledge of any
    28        of these meetings, they said.  This was on 6th December
    29        after I had written twice to them, and after we had applied
    30        for the notes from this series of meetings which we had
    31        identified, who had attended and everything, had said that
    32        Neil Skehel was on holiday and that nobody else "who was
    33        involved with Colchester at the time, directly or
    34        indirectly, has any knowledge of any such meetings", even
    35        though Mr. Atherton said he had been asked about those
    36        meetings.  So, I think this only adds to our belief that
    37        documents have been lost as a strategy to -----
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  No, my Lord.  I am sorry, I have to intervene.  As
    40        usual, Mr. Morris is making wild and rather silly
    41        allegations against Mrs. Brinley-Codd.  What, in fact,
    42        happened was that the original enquiries about the meeting
    43        was made on the basis of some of handwritten note of
    44        Mr. Morris', where no names were given.  That is my
    45        understanding.  So it does not surprise me that no-one
    46        could remember anything.  It was not until after Mr. Coton
    47        had given evidence -- he, first of all, if your Lordship
    48        remembers, said that Mr. Andy Taylor was there.  He later
    49        retracted that.  It was only after that that we managed to
    50        get the kind of detail which we succeeded in getting by the 
    51        time we had served Mr. Atherton's statement.  I think 
    52        Mr. Coton gave evidence about 5th or 6th December -- 7th 
    53        and 8th, that is right.
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  I wrote -----
    56
    57   MR. RAMPTON:  Mrs. Brinley-Codd's letter was on 6th.
    58
    59   MR. MORRIS:  I wrote on 30th November 1995 and on the
    60        1st December 1995 about these meetings.  Then the one on

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