Day 086 - 09 Feb 95 - Page 28
1 it but me answering it in due course, if it is thought to
2 be relevant.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: Yes, but the problem is that when witnesses come
5 here and say: "It was no fault of ours" and they have not
6 heard all the evidence, they are allowed to say that and
7 make bland statements saying how the company is never at
8 fault; yet when challenged they should be able to retract
9 that statement. (To the witness): Are you now prepared to
10 retract statement that you made before?
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Please, Mr. Rampton -- the answer is "no".
13 There is no point in asking a witness to answer a question
14 like that when he has only heard part of the available
15 evidence. You put that to me in due course when I have
16 heard it all.
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I might add for the future assistance of
19 the Defendants, a question like this involves not only
20 questions of fact and evidence but probably some quite
21 difficult questions of law at the end of it all which will
22 be for your Lordship to decide.
23
24 MR. MORRIS: All right. Just a last question -- no, I think
25 I will leave it there.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Take a moment, if you like. Do you want the
28 break now and if you have thought of something you want to
29 ask, we can do it when you come back.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can you just help me as to timing? The only
34 reason I ask is that I have been told that some students
35 were going to come into court this afternoon. If you can
36 give some indication of when we are likely to finish
37 Mr. Atherton, purely for that purpose, I may be able to
38 send a message back to them.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: You do not know what time they are coming, whether
41 it is 2 o'clock?
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think they were coming sometime in the
44 early part of the afternoon. They are not people I have
45 met before. Very often a Judge is just told that a number
46 of people are going to come into court and sometimes I see
47 them afterwards. If you can give a very general
48 indication; if you think you are going to go on
49 significantly into the afternoon, that is all I need to
50 know because their visit will not be wasted.
51
52 MR. MORRIS: I think we are likely to continue to half past 2 at
53 least, I am not sure, it may be 3.00, 3.30.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you. Do not say any more.
56
57 (Short Adjournment)
58
59 MS. STEEL: Could you get pink volume 8B, please?
60
