Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 47
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2 MR. RAMPTON: I know it to be the fact, whether the Defendants
3 were told or not I am not so sure of. It is a good thing
4 he is out of the room because I am giving evidence for him
5 at the moment.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It does not matter if Mr. Walker is not here.
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9 MR. RAMPTON: No, exactly. Yes, my Lord. By a letter dated
10 26th May 1994 to both Defendants -- this copy is addressed
11 to Ms. Steel -- Sun Valley were said to have agreed. They
12 subsequently changed their minds when they found that it
13 was Miss Clare Druce who was supposed to visit them. But
14 Barlow's wrote to the Defendants: "We enclose a copy of a
15 letter from David Walker to our clients from which you will
16 see that it is a condition that your expert" -- this is for
17 a visit to McKeys -- "be accompanied by our clients' expert
18 witness and a member of our firm. Furthermore, you will
19 see that McKey's are not prepared to ask their suppliers
20 whether or not your expert can visit their premises."
21
22 There is a letter enclosed from to Mr. Oakley from
23 Mr. Walker. He says: "After in-depth discussion and
24 giving special consideration to the fact that one of our
25 suppliers has been seriously affected by the activities of
26 extremists, we do not consider it would be diplomatic to
27 ask if representatives of London Greenpeace can visit the
28 premises. This also applies to the pork supplier and I
29 would ask that McDonald's do not approach these suppliers
30 direct ..."
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32 MR. MORRIS: Right.
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34 MR. RAMPTON: So, if they want to cross-examine Mr. Walker about
35 that, they are welcome to do so.
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37 MR. MORRIS: I thought that the Plaintiffs have an obligation to
38 ask their suppliers for our experts to make a visit because
39 that is what was decided by the court.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not know whether there is any prospect
42 of finishing Mr. Walker this afternoon, but what we have to
43 do -- we have done it in the past -- what we have to filter
44 out is what arguments must take place during a witness's
45 evidence and what can be left over until that witness is
46 out of the witness box and on his way home or back to his
47 work. By all means address me later on the rights and
48 wrongs of inspections, but at the moment focus on the
49 matters which you can legitimately ask Mr. Walker as a
50 witness.
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52 MR. MORRIS: Just in terms of administration, the problem is
53 that lots of things come up as we are talking and they do
54 not get dealt with and then it is really hard to -----
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I know but we should be able to cope with
57 that just by making a note in relation to it, that it is a
58 matter which has been put over with a view to
59 inconveniencing the witness as little as possible.
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