Day 149 - 06 Jul 95 - Page 17


     
     1        might like to, the best thing is to wait until we have
     2        disclosed documents, which we will do as soon as possible,
     3        and, as it were, store this matter, if it needs to be
     4        argued, for a later date.
     5
     6        As I said, I think, before to your Lordship, I have no
     7        inhibition about Mrs. Barnes being recalled at all, so long
     8        as it is not a waste of her time.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  I think my reaction at the moment is, if
    11        there is any doubt about it, let Mrs. Barnes come back.
    12        But if one can avoid the need for her to come back, by a
    13        level of agreement about discovery and what it is accepted
    14        on the face of the discovery of a document, then let us
    15        avoid bringing her here.
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  As your Lordship has just said, to that end it is
    18        desirable at the very least that the Defendants should, in
    19        advance of any argument, provide a list, just the page
    20        numbers and paragraph numbers, of the points that they
    21        think it might be necessary to cross-examine about.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I suggest you do -----
    24
    25   MS. STEEL:  We are not entirely happy about that, because if we
    26        give away everything, then that does enable witnesses to
    27        kind of -- I do not know.  I think you can get a different
    28        response if witnesses do not know exactly what you are
    29        going to be asking them.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you are going to persuade me that
    32        Mrs. Barnes needs to be recalled, I think you have to point
    33        to something which you need to ask her a question about.
    34        I do not think you can avoid that.  I have seen
    35        Mrs. Barnes, and I will keep an open mind until the end of
    36        this case, but I am going to need an awful lot of
    37        persuading that she is a dishonest woman ---
    38
    39   MS. STEEL:   I do not think that is the -----
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  -- and that is she is going to go scratching
    42        around before she is recalled to try to avoid some way of
    43        you making a point on a document.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  I am not particularly trying to suggest that she is
    46        dishonest.  I think it is something of a matter of
    47        principle, in a way, in that the minutes ought to have been
    48        disclosed prior to her coming into the witness box; and if
    49        they had been, we would not have had to give any kind of
    50        notice of what was specifically asked for. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I urge you to rethink about that and see if 
    53        you cannot identify what the parts are.  The way you can do
    54        that is to get a photocopy of the relevant documents and
    55        then just underline in red biro or put some mark in the
    56        margin next to the quote which you, in effect, want an
    57        admission on.  You need not write it all out on a fresh
    58        piece of paper; that will be sufficient identification.
    59        Then Mr. Rampton can say what his client's attitude is.  It
    60        will probably be perfectly obvious, anyway, if I bothered

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