Day 278 - 11 Jul 96 - Page 34
1 disseminate any transcript extracts 'to journalists and
2 Mclibel support campaigners and similar like-minded
3 people'."
4
5 Q. That is right.
6 A. That is an exact quote from what you said in court.
7
8 Q. Miss Steel, what I said in court, and I will come back to
9 that?
10 A. Was the undertaking that you asked for.
11
12 Q. Miss Steel, when I said that in court it was some time
13 later, long before this Trial News or whatever it is
14 called, this document, was ever written, having been
15 overtaken by that letter from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. And
16 you know that perfectly well; do you not?
17 A. I am quite sure -- if you just let me go and have a
18 look through the transcripts now, I would probably be able
19 to find it. It was before you sent this letter to us.
20
21 Q. Yes, yes, exactly, and had indeed been replaced by that
22 letter, had it not, which came long before this document?
23 A. No. You asked for that undertaking in court. You
24 never said, "I retract what I said the other day in
25 court". That was what you asked for.
26
27 Q. Why did you not tell the writers of that document about
28 this letter from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert?
29 A. Mr. Rampton, are you trying to deny that you said this
30 in court?
31
32 Q. Miss Steel, will you please answer my question? Why did
33 you not tell the writers of this document about this letter
34 from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert?
35 A. The letter is equally as, what is the word, I can't
36 think of the word, but is about censorship. But you said
37 that in court, you had never withdrawn it and I think that
38 was quite fair to report that you said that in court.
39
40 Q. Would you please look at page 5 again, the box "Transcript
41 Scandal", the last paragraph: "The denial of transcripts
42 will sabotage defence preparations for the rest of the case
43 and make a fair trial virtually impossible." Miss Steel,
44 you know perfectly well that we were always prepared to go
45 on paying for you to use the transcripts for the conduct of
46 your defence provided that you undertook to confine their
47 use to that purpose?
48 A. Mr. Rampton, as you are well aware, this court case is
49 about defending the right to criticise multinational
50 companies and not bowing to attempts by them to silence
51 their critics. We were hardly going to agree to an attempt
52 by McDonald's to blackmail us into keeping quiet about what
53 was going on in court. And, as far as we were concerned,
54 you were denying the transcripts which you had promised you
55 would provide to us throughout this trial.
56
57 Q. We provided them, Miss Steel, as you know perfectly well,
58 so that you should not be at a disadvantage in the conduct
59 of the litigation. If you are at a disadvantage, you have
60 brought it on yourself?
