Day 249 - 14 May 96 - Page 71
1
2 MS. STEEL: OK. Mr. Nicholson, is there anybody in those
3 photographs that you recognise as a private investigator?
4 A. No.
5
6 Q. Who infiltrated London Greenpeace?
7 A. No.
8
9 Q. Right. If you look, the person who appears in photograph
10 number 3 with a whole load of leaflets on her arm handing
11 one to a man with dark glasses on?
12 A. Yes.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The one in the white shirt.
15
16 MS. STEEL: Yes, the one in the white shirt, I put it to you
17 that she was a private investigator hired by McDonald's to
18 infiltrate London Greenpeace and that she worked for the
19 Kings Investigation Bureau?
20 A. I have never met, apart from Clare, any of the
21 operatives. I just cannot say who she is.
22
23 Q. Right.
24
25 MR. RAMPTON: I wonder if we can be told the name, because
26 I certainly do not know it.
27
28 MS. STEEL: I am sure Mr. Rampton -- well, maybe not
29 Mr. Rampton, but I am sure Mrs. Brinley-Codd knows the
30 names of all the private investigators.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The point is, I have offered this as a way of
33 avoiding the need to serve now further witness statements
34 and it is very convenient if you say "I suggest she is" and
35 we kill two birds with one stone. You have actually put it
36 as part of your case to McDonald's witnesses and you have
37 openly disclosed what you expect your case to be with
38 regard to it.
39
40 MS. STEEL: I do not have a problem with giving her name, but
41 what I do find objectionable is that we asked the
42 Plaintiffs for exactly the same information about who the
43 other private investigators were quite some time ago and
44 they refused to give that information. So, you know, it is
45 information that is at their finger tips as much as it is
46 at ours.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but for better or worse they are not
49 prepared to bring it out as part of their case. You are
50 hoping to bring this out as part of your case, so you
51 really should put it to the witness.
52
53 MS. STEEL: The name of that person in the photograph is
54 Michelle Hooker, who is mentioned in the statement of
55 Frances Tiller.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Does that ring any bells?
58 A. Not at all, my Lord. I read that statement yesterday
59 and that is the first I have heard of Tiller and it is the
60 first time I have heard of Hooker.
