Day 270 - 28 Jun 96 - Page 41
1 admissible for the purpose of proving it. So she has to
2 come here and give evidence if she is to prove what the
3 inspectors -- well, she can prove what the inspectors said
4 but there is no purpose in that since unless what they said
5 is relied on as being a version of the truth, they are
6 irrelevant, because the fact that they said something is of
7 no significance in this case, it can only be that what they
8 said might be true.
9
10 My Lord, can I ask your Lordship to look at the statement
11 of the journalist? The first paragraph, I say, gives the
12 game away. I mean, that is not fair because she is not a
13 lawyer, but it holds the key in its last few words.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: What are we looking at now? The statement?
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, her letter to Ms. Steel, 25th April
18 1996. You must have it because you were going to read it
19 to me.
20
21 MR. RAMPTON: She confirms the contents of her article but the
22 article is no different case from her own statement. They
23 are both written documents and she is not here, so they are
24 on precisely the same condition. She says:
25
26 "I hereby confirm the article and quote in it to be a true
27 and accurate record of what I would...." So far so good.
28 Then she goes on: "And was told by the various persons
29 quoted".
30
31 I will not read anything more until I get to the bottom of
32 the page.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can we --
35
36 MR. RAMPTON: Can I just ask your Lordship to read the next
37 three succeeding paragraphs?
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, I have read them. What do you say
40 about those?
41
42 MR. RAMPTON: They are all plainly a report by her of what she
43 has been told. None of those, as far as I can see, is
44 direct observation by her. This is perfectly proper on
45 behalf of a journalist, that she should gather her sources
46 from --
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So you say the clear inference of paragraphs
49 2, 3 and 4 is that they rely on what she has been told?
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: Well, my Lord, it must be so, in fact, if one
52 looks at it, she cannot possibly, as a matter of reality,
53 have any direct experience of the matters she recites in
54 those three paragraphs. She does not work for the
55 Department of Agriculture, she is not a meat inspector, she
56 does not work in the meat industry. It is inconceivable
57 that she could have any direct knowledge of those matters.
58
59 But, my Lord, perhaps the key to it is the end of that
60 first page, where she starts:
