Day 305 - 25 Nov 96 - Page 17
1
2 There is absolutely not one shred of evidence of my
3 involvement in the anti-McDonald's campaign activities,
4 specifically during the period when McDonald's had seven
5 infiltrators up to the service of the writ. There is not
6 one piece of evidence; and, in fact, the evidence is to the
7 contrary of me taking part in any pickets, organising any
8 events, distributing leaflets, anti-McDonald's leaflets.
9 I will deal with the mail-outs point when I have checked
10 the detail. That would not show any involvement in
11 anti-McDonald's campaign, in any event, because answering a
12 few general inquiries is hardly part of the anti-McDonald's
13 campaign. In any event, as we have heard, McDonald's
14 inquiries, specifically, were the responsibility of those
15 who were involved with the campaign, they dealt with
16 those -- such as Paul and Jane.
17
18 The third level -- I have done these back to front,
19 really -- the third level of what the Plaintiffs have to
20 prove, they have to show my direct responsibility for the
21 distribution of the fact sheet. Unsurprisingly, we would
22 say that there is no evidence at all of distribution of the
23 fact sheet, which the Plaintiffs have to positively prove.
24 Obviously, there were claimed incidents which melted away
25 under cross-examination, we would submit.
26
27 The evidence on mail-outs is that apart from the fact that,
28 of course, the fact sheet had virtually run out and was
29 only used by Mr. Gravett, or indeed by Jane, for specific
30 inquiries from this relevant time, we have heard that
31 anyway the mail-outs were very much down to who -- when
32 I say "mail-outs", I mean answering letters; I do not mean
33 mail-out because, as we have heard, the only mail-out in
34 this relevant time did not contain any anti-McDonald's
35 leaflet on the issues in the case, let alone the
36 fact sheet. So, when I say "mail-out", I generally mean
37 answering letters, inquiries. First of all, it is entirely
38 up to the person who is doing that, answering that
39 letter -- and we will go through the detail of this as we
40 go through some of the evidence of the agents -- very much
41 down to the individual what they put in, what they did not
42 put in, whether they put a cover letter in, whether they
43 did not. The only thing that seemed to be pretty
44 conclusive is that the London Greenpeace fact sheet would
45 not go into a general inquiry, because it was specifically
46 kept for Paul and Jane or whoever was answering those
47 letters to deal with in the way they thought fit.
48
49 Can I just say, in terms of lack of evidence, we have heard
50 how some of the agents -- I think it was Mr. Clare, but it
51 may have been another of the agents -- had searched through
52 drawers in the London Greenpeace office, and that if --
53 indeed, again in terms of inferences, we do not think it is
54 safe to draw inferences about something that McDonald's are
55 under the burden of proof to prove in any case -- but in
56 terms of if evidence had been available, then no doubt the
57 agents would have found it, about, say, my responsibility
58 for publication, or indeed production, because they were
59 able to go through drawers, enter the office at times when
60 there was nobody there, as we have heard; and, indeed, they
