Day 265 - 19 Jun 96 - Page 72


     
     1        assert in terms of what photographs and what have you were
     2        taken for, they were not for any sinister purpose at all
     3        and, you know, we are not remotely interested in
     4        threatening the witnesses or trying to intimidate them, or
     5        doing -- I do not know, taking any kind of action.  It
     6        actually strikes me that myself and Mr. Morris are in more
     7        of a threat than anybody else, bearing in mind that the
     8        office had been broken into, we have been followed home and
     9        things like that, and photographs have been taken of us.
    10        Not just on pickets, but in the street and in other places
    11        and I just do not think that the Plaintiff has got anything
    12        to complain about and I think that this is relevant
    13        information.  We could check up the firm that Mr. Claire
    14        was working for.  Find out whether it is a reputable firm
    15        or not and ask Mr. Claire about it as is relevant.  That is
    16        basically it.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Thank you Mr. Morris do you want to say
    19        anything in addition to those points?
    20
    21   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  The only thing I knew about the conversations
    22        with Michelle Hooker was that they were not, that I was
    23        told that she had denied being Michelle Hooker.  The
    24        Plaintiffs have now confirmed it was Michelle Hooker but
    25        until that time we had to assume that she was telling the
    26        truth when she denied being Michelle Hooker and therefore,
    27        we had made no contact.  We were hoping to call her a
    28        witness as we have called Francis Tiller and, in fact, it
    29        was completely counter productive to any attempt to call
    30        her as a witness if we in anyway showed any negative view
    31        what about she had done, even though she had infiltrated
    32        the group, taken photographs and been part of a whole
    33        series of quite disgusting activities, abusing the trust of
    34        London Greenpeace and it was still counterproductive and
    35        when we contacted Francis Tiller we were very, very
    36        concerned and said we have no enmity at all but were just
    37        trying to talk to them about the truth of the situation and
    38        hope they would comes as a witness for us, and that way we
    39        approached the Michelle Hooker situation.  So it is not
    40        only come absolutely not true but absolutely unbelievable
    41        that we should have made any threats because it is just
    42        against our interests and certainly be against our belief
    43        to do so.
    44
    45        So yes, the thing is that the information about what the
    46        firm a person works for, I do not see what the problem is.
    47        It cannot lead to -- it is important information.  It is
    48        very basic information that you would get from any
    49        witness.  You have to know who they are acting for, whether
    50        they be employed by McDonald's but whether they are also 
    51        employed by that particular firm.  So we would be entitled 
    52        to that information.  We can make guarantees if it is said 
    53        in Chambers that we will not make it public, but we are
    54        entitled to do research based upon that information.
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  I do not know about that last comment at all.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If the question is to be asked and answered,
    59        it should be done in open Court.
    60

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