Day 147 - 04 Jul 95 - Page 27
1 What I am pointing out to you for you, hopefully, to
2 consider is this: in effect, you are being told by
3 Mr. Rampton that McDonald's will pay for you to have a
4 transcript, so you can use it for your cross-examination,
5 and when you come to final submissions you have a word
6 perfect account of the evidence, but they are only prepared
7 to pay for you to have a copy if you say that you will not
8 show it to someone else. All I am inviting is your
9 response to that, to give you an opportunity to address me
10 on that, if you wish.
11
12 MS. STEEL: To be honest, I do not understand this. If we are
13 asked (as we are) by friends, family, journalists, whoever,
14 about what has been going on in this case, we are entitled
15 to say what has been going on in this case. Would the
16 Plaintiffs rather we do it from memory, or would they
17 rather we do it accurately from checking things up first?
18
19 We are not distributing copies of the transcripts to
20 anybody. We will end up being afraid to even talk about
21 the case to anybody, if this carries on. Is that what the
22 Plaintiffs really want?
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There must be a limit to the extent to which
25 you can address the Plaintiffs through me. All I am saying
26 is, if you want to address me on what Mr. Rampton has just
27 said, do not neglect to do so just because you have
28 forgotten to do so.
29
30 MR. RAMPTON: I would like to finish this topic. I would like
31 to respond to the suggestion -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I am going to do now is adjourn until
34 five past two. I will then you give an opportunity to say
35 anything more you wish to say on this topic. Then I will
36 hear what Mr. Rampton wants to say in reply to you.
37
38 All I am trying to point out to you is that it is not an
39 absolute "no" which McDonald's are putting to you. They
40 are saying that you can have them; you will, therefore,
41 have them for cross-examination and for final speeches, but
42 only if you say you will not hand them to anyone else. It
43 is up to you to decide about that. This is about the third
44 or fourth time I have put it. If you want to say anything
45 about that, tell me at five past two.
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, not showing the transcript to others
48 would include of course, which is exactly the same -- which
49 it is now apparent at last that the Defendants admit they
50 have been doing -- which is reading out verbatim selected
51 passages to journalists, McLibel Support campaign; the
52 undertaking extends to that, too.
53
54 MR. MORRIS: I would rather die than allow McDonald's to censor
55 information that is coming out in this trial that is in the
56 public arena.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We will resume at five past two, and I will
59 hear any further you want to say.
60
