Day 307 - 27 Nov 96 - Page 36
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Not the Sue Carpenter one?
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4 MR. MORRIS: No, it is the Sandy War one and Nick Herbert one,
5 which is two pages. Have you found those?
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7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have found Sandy War, which is followed by
8 Sue Carpenter and then Giles Carroll.
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10 MR. MORRIS: Oh. No, it is another Sandy War one. Later on,
11 about eight pages after that, there is another Sandy War
12 report. It is -----
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14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I have that.
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16 MR. MORRIS: The following one is Nick Herbert. The first one,
17 Sandy War, 27th May 1994, seven in the morning, a breakfast
18 programme, and we are talking about hundreds of thousands
19 of people listening in the Greater London area. It says,
20 fourth line down, "McDonald's say the allegations are
21 lies." There is no one from McDonald's interviewed, so
22 that can only have come from the press release, we would
23 say, or a derivative of it.
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25 This is the point about this press release, that when Helen
26 was interviewed she is put on the defensive about whether
27 she is lying or not, not what the issues of the case are
28 about. McDonald's knew, when they issued that press
29 release, they were attacking our character and that would
30 change the concept, that would move the goalposts on what
31 was being discussed in the media what the case was about,
32 not about the issues, whether they were true or false, but
33 are we lying or not lying.
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35 MS. STEEL: If I can just point out that both of the press
36 releases, the first one and the second one, are recorded as
37 having been sent to GLR. The first one to Mr. Steve
38 Panton, GLR News, that is the last name on the list on
39 page 2 of the further and better particulars in the defence
40 to counterclaim, and the second press release was sent to
41 Sean Waterman at GLR. That is page 4 of the same pleading.
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43 MR. MORRIS: If you look, the next one after the Sandy War one
44 is also GLR, same day but later on. This is actually by
45 Sean Waterman, so here is a person who has actually
46 received the press release. He is the reporter and the
47 first paragraph, 4th line, Nick Herbert, presenter, says,
48 "McDonald's say the leaflet is full of lies".
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50 MR JUSTICE BELL: I have read that. You referred them to me.
51 If you are going to get through this expeditiously all you
52 have to do is point them out.
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54 MR. MORRIS: If you just note that in the second paragraph the
55 sixth and seventh lines deal with almost direct quotes from
56 the press release -- strict hygiene rules, equal
57 opportunities policy, that kind of stuff.
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59 MR JUSTICE BELL: Yes, very well.
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