Day 172 - 12 Oct 95 - Page 54
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I suggested it might be helpful that you,
3 before they were read, said which parts you were going to
4 object to, but I do not feel so strongly about that that I
5 am saying you ought to do it.
6
7 MR. RAMPTON: Can I put it slightly differently?
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest is that you take any part of
10 Mr. McGee -- if there are any parts of Mr. McGee ----
11
12 MR. RAMPTON: I can deal with it quite shortly actually, because
13 now I have made the position clear I can just -- without
14 reading them out -- say which they are. Can I start with
15 what I understand ----
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just take the ones you absolutely object to,
18 come what may.
19
20 MR. RAMPTON: Can I please say this first? It is my
21 understanding of the civil law of evidence in this country
22 that evidence which is admissible for one purpose cannot be
23 excluded simply because it is inadmissible for another
24 purpose - certainly in a trial of a judge alone; it might
25 be different in a jury trial, because with a judge alone
26 one does not have to make a balance between prejudice and
27 probative value, as one does with a jury.
28
29 So, for that reason, I accept the whole of pages 2 and 3,
30 1, 2 and 3 as admissible, except for the little sentence at
31 the bottom of the fourth paragraph on page 2 -- it is not
32 even a sentence; it is a parenthesis -- "People who were
33 only there because they needed the money" -- your Lordship
34 has made a ruling about that in relation to Magill's
35 statement. On page 2 it is the bottom of the fourth
36 paragraph. It is penultimate line: "People who were only
37 there because they needed the money". I made that
38 objection in relation to Magill and I maintain it in
39 relation to McGee.
40
41 My Lord, broadly, I cannot object to 3 as a read document
42 because it explains what McGee ----
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I take your objection, but, looking at it in
45 the broad, there is really no objection to it being read,
46 is there?
47
48 MR. RAMPTON: I know.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You see, it really comes in, him saying that
51 -- quite apart from your point about other people, I have
52 to allow it in, have I not, as a statement that he was only
53 there for the money?
54
55 MR. RAMPTON: Well, I mean, I would not want to waste any time
56 on it at all, because it is not something that concerns me
57 particularly, I have to say.
58
59 In saying that I do not object to the bottom of 2 and the
60 bottom of 3, though it consists almost entirely of hearsay,
