Day 117 - 27 Apr 95 - Page 38


     
     1        quite a large number of witness statements, and in relation
     2        to those whom you have not named either yesterday or today,
     3        the position is obviously you have a statement from him at
     4        sometime, but there is absolutely no good reason to suppose
     5        at the moment that they are actually going to come to call
     6        evidence.
     7
     8   MR. MORRIS:  They have made statements for that purpose, so the
     9        assumption, we would submit, is that they are going to come
    10        to give evidence.  The question is an administrative one
    11        of -----
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You may have to persuade me that I can
    14        fairly, in making such directions as I have to as to the
    15        fair and expeditious disposal of this case, make that
    16        assumption.  I have been quite prepared to accept what you
    17        say to me.  I am not for a moment suggesting that what you
    18        have said is not absolutely candid about who has replied to
    19        forms and whom you have actually spoken to on the phone.
    20        Unless and until Mr. Rampton says that I should doubt what
    21        you have said, I do not propose to do so for a moment, but
    22        in relation to all the others we just have this situation
    23        that they have not responded to the forms, if in fact they
    24        have ever received them, and you have not spoken to them on
    25        the phone.  If you say, "Well, look, I want it a few more
    26        days to try to ring a few more of them", well and good,
    27        although time is running out all the time.  A time must
    28        come when I have to use my common sense and say, well look,
    29        Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel in so far as she is participating
    30        in this, have not had contact with these witnesses for a
    31        very long time and there really is, therefore, no reason to
    32        suppose they are actually going to come; nothing to do with
    33        whether they have been willing to come or not, but merely
    34        because they will not have been notified, "Come on this
    35        day".  A fortiori, they have not been subpoenaed.  You have
    36        had contact with them but they appeared to be dragging
    37        their feet, for whatever reason, just that they thought it
    38        was jolly inconvenient to come to London, you have not been
    39        able to subpoena them.
    40
    41        If, for instance, I knew had you a subpoena with regard to
    42        this witness or that witness and it had been served on this
    43        witness or that witness, then again I would have ground for
    44        assuming they were going to come.  But anyone you have not
    45        had a form from or made fairly recent telephone
    46        communication from or served a subpoena on at the moment,
    47        it seems to me it is only sensible to assume that they are
    48        not going to be here.
    49
    50        So think on that.  If that is correct, that the only 
    51        reasonable assumption is they are not going to be here, 
    52        then it is for Mr. Rampton to decide whether he wants to 
    53        call any evidence on that topic.  If he decides not to call
    54        any evidence on that topic, well, there we are.  If it then
    55        later appears that there is good ground to believe they are
    56        going to come because you say, "Well, I have now got a form
    57        back from X" or "I have spoken to X on the phone" or
    58        "I have now managed to serve X with a subpoena" let us
    59        know straightaway because then Mr. Rampton may be put in a
    60        position where, rather than just waiting to see if they

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