Day 001 - 28 Jun 94 - Page 64
1 them. I am asking you to propose some practical solution
to me.
2
MR. RAMPTON: All I can do is this. I am very anxious not to
3 disturb the order of my witnesses. I am not anxious to
spoon feed the defendants any longer. At the same time as
4 your Lordship has rightly pointed out, when the documents
are in a mess the trial goes at a pace of the slowest of
5 slow. That is perfectly right and often involves a good
deal of repetition. I would like to avoid that too. May
6 I suggest this what we do. We allow the defendants to
take away from Barlow's offices the files which are there,
7 which is to say a complete set of the new trial bundles,
and at the same time we call Mr. Preston on Thursday as
8 arranged, he gives his evidence-in-chief and then if the
defendants are in difficulty still about cross-examining
9 him, why then he can be brought back at a later stage.
I really do not want, unless your Lordship makes me, to
10 defer Mr. Beavers -- it would be extremely inconvenient
for him -- nor do I want to take Mr. Beavers first and
11 Mr. Preston second, again if it is possible to avoid it.
12 MISS STEEL: If Mr. Preston is going to be called on Thursday,
it would be helpful if it could be Thursday afternoon so
13 we could sort them out in the morning. That would be make
things easier. It really is not our fault about the
14 bundles. We only got indices yesterday, so there was
nothing we could do about it.
15
MR. RAMPTON: Mrs. Brinley-Codd tells me that your Lordship has
16 been misled -- accidentally no doubt -- in fact, the
defendants got the new index of trial bundles on 20th
17 June, that is to say, a week and a day ago.
18 MISS STEEL: We were given them in court yesterday.
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not going to enter into enquiry on the
rights and wrongs. That just does not help me to decide
20 what it is right to do now.
21 MR. RAMPTON: I have made my proposal. Another possibility
would be to start at, say, half past 11 on Thursday to
22 give the defendants a bit more time to sort out the
bundles. They can come and pick them up tonight. As
23 I have observed before -- this is not a winge, grumble or
complaint about the past -- there are 24 hours in a day.
24 Anybody who has been at the Bar for any length of time
knows that the candle, if the case is to go smoothly, must
25 be burnt at both ends. There is no solution to that
problem.
26
MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think what I will do, subject to any
27 further discussion, we will hear your openings tomorrow.
They may take the whole day, I do not know, they may take
28 a little less than the whole day. We will see. We will
then adjourn until 2 o'clock on Thursday. We will start
29 Mr. Preston. You can tell me at 2 o'clock how organised
you have got.
30
What, if I might suggest, you should concentrate on so far
