Day 187 - 13 Nov 95 - Page 36


     
     1        had 800 pages of transcript of the unedited interviews for
     2        One Every Mile.  He said this -- and this is on page 60 of
     3        the transcript for that day -- he said: "I will certainly
     4        try to make it available.  I am sure if people want me to,
     5        I will try to get it copied before Friday, but it may not
     6        be necessary to copy it if it is available to be looked
     7        at.  So I will try and bring it in.  I have not had a
     8        chance to look at it and, therefore, I cannot hardly ask
     9        any questions on it.  I certainly will bring it in.  It is
    10        from the film director herself" -- my Lord, that was
    11        Ms. Gabriel.  Your Lordship said: "You do not need that for
    12        Miss Anteneh, do you?  It will be before Miss Tobin."  That
    13        was on 19th July.
    14
    15        Then on 25th July, at page 15, I reminded your Lordship of
    16        that exchange, and I said that we would like to have
    17        discovery of those transcripts; and your Lordship said, on
    18        the same day at page 20 -- sorry, page 19 -- "At the moment
    19        I am minded to think that they (the transcripts) are
    20        relevant, and that if they are discoverable documents for
    21        the purpose of the trial, copyright does not come into it"
    22        -- because Mr. Morris was worried about some copyright
    23        problem.  Your Lordship went on: "There is no actual
    24        embarrassment to you if I actually order you to produce
    25        them, because then you have no option but to produce them,
    26        whatever agreement you may have made.  On the other hand,
    27        I obviously want to hear some proper argument about it, and
    28        it is a situation where I might well say that if either
    29        Miss Gabriel or Channel 4 feel that they have a real
    30        interest in the matter, I would hear anything which they
    31        wanted to say as part of the argument on the subject.  In
    32        other words, though they are not parties, they could be
    33        represented or Miss Gabriel could come and say herself, if
    34        she wished.  Channel 4 would have to be represented by
    35        counsel, because it is a company.  Miss Gabriel could be
    36        represented if she chooses, but I obviously cannot embark
    37        on that today, and today is our last day.  What do you say,
    38        Mr. Rampton?"  I said: "I agree with your Lordship", and
    39        I gave the reasons why I wanted discovery of the
    40        transcripts, because -- and I am summarising -- from my own
    41        bitter experience, one knows how often what appears on the
    42        television is a very selective version of what appears in
    43        the unedited transcripts.
    44
    45        That was the last we heard of that until, during the
    46        vacation, on 7th September, Mr. Morris wrote us a letter in
    47        which he said:  "Jane Gabriel has required us to return the
    48        One Every Mile transcripts which had been loaned to us.
    49        She is prepared to attend court to verify the accuracy of
    50        the film or to answer questions." 
    51 
    52        So, my Lord, what has happened is this, that even despite 
    53        an indication from your Lordship that the transcripts were
    54        discoverable and despite the fact that we had not seen them
    55        (though we said we wanted to and explained why), Mr. Morris
    56        took it into his own hands to return the transcripts to
    57        Jane Gabriel before we had seen them and without notice to
    58        us.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He had no option, if she asked to have them

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