Day 305 - 25 Nov 96 - Page 38
1 MS. STEEL: That is if it was said at all.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: If it was said at all -- which we do not think it
4 was.
5
6 MS. STEEL: As opposed to being a figment of Mr. Clare's
7 imagination.
8
9 In paragraph 4 of Mr. Clare's third statement -- this is in
10 relation to the meeting on 4th January 1990, which was the
11 first meeting he attended -- he said that, in his view, it
12 was clear that McDonald's were still a main target of the
13 group. He gave various details of the events or things
14 occurring which he said backed that up.
15
16 One of the things that he was relying on was that there was
17 going to be an anti-McDonald's picket outside the
18 Chapel Market branch of McDonald's in Islington. In
19 reality, we heard from Mr. Gravett that that was actually a
20 picket organised by Hackney and Islington Animal Rights,
21 not by London Greenpeace. All that really left, in terms
22 of what his assertion was based on, was that people were
23 writing in letters asking about McDonald's, and so
24 anti-McDonald's leaflets would be sent out in reply.
25
26 Also, he claimed that the next public meeting was going to
27 be a McDonald's campaign meeting. As we heard from
28 Mr. Pocklington and other witnesses, in fact the next
29 meeting was about the future of the group as a whole and
30 was not a McDonald's campaign meeting. The McDonald's
31 campaign would have been one small part of that meeting.
32
33 It is clear that the statement that McDonald's was still a
34 main target of the group was basically a comment from the
35 witness; and then, in any event, there is no evidence of me
36 making any comment in relation to that, no evidence that
37 I said anything. So, even if that had been true, it would
38 not be evidence against me.
39
40 Just a quick point in relation to paragraph 9.1B of
41 Mr. Clare's third statement, which related to the meeting
42 of 12th April 1990, where he says: "Paul said he was
43 organising the reprinting of more leaflets on all LGP
44 topics, which I presumed included the anti-McDonald's
45 leaflets." Just to point out that, obviously, a
46 presumption is not any evidence, and that, in common with
47 his statement that I had admitted (as he claimed) that
48 I was responsible for all anti-McDonald's leaflets, this is
49 probably another exaggeration by Mr. Clare, when
50 Mr. Gravett mentioned getting some leaflets reprinted and
51 Mr. Clare had interpreted it as all the leaflets. In any
52 event, there is absolutely no evidence that the London
53 Greenpeace fact sheet about McDonald's was going to be
54 reprinted; and, in fact, all the evidence is to the
55 contrary, because Mr. Gravett said the last time it was
56 reprinted was in 1987.
57
58 Just, really, to finish off on Mr. Clare, our view is that
59 absolutely no weight should be attached to his evidence.
60 He attended at least 19 meetings of London Greenpeace --
