Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 65
1 MR. RAMPTON: I have put that forward on the basis that it is
2 for Mr. Stein's convenience, which it is. To his
3 inconvenience, as I say, if he is not finished by Friday
4 30th he will come back on Monday, 24th July. But it has
5 this subsidiary or consequential advantage that it does
6 give the defendants an additional three days to prepare for
7 cross-examination of Mr. Stein Monday and Tuesday ----
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which day in July would he come back?
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: He would come back in the last week -- what may be
12 the last week, the 24th. So they will get five days
13 cross-examination from the 26th to the 30th. One hopes
14 that might be enough, but if it is not he will come back in
15 the week beginning 24th July if needed.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Are you contemplating putting anyone in ----
18
19 MR. RAMPTON: I could certainly do that. I can very easily do
20 that now if I know who some of the defendants' witnesses
21 are going to be because I have quite a lot of people in
22 this country that I could just slot in for those three
23 days. But I would only do that if your Lordship wished me
24 to save court time. If, on the other hand, your Lordship
25 thought it right to give the defendants another three days
26 prep for Mr. Stein, then I would leave him blank. As far
27 as that is concerned, I am in your Lordship's hands
28 entirely. I have a number of quite short witnesses that
29 I could easily put into those three days if your Lordship
30 would wish me to do so.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let us take it stage by stage. Ms. Steel and
33 Mr. Morris, do you have anything to say about Monday 15th
34 and Tuesday 16th? That is, having Mr. Fairgreaves on the
35 Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of that week?
36
37 MS. STEEL: No, we have not got any objection to that. We did
38 not say that we would be finished in two days. We just
39 said that was the estimate.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is the point I made, that you gave a two
42 day estimate.
43
44 MS. STEEL: Yes. Hopefully it will be enough time.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If all went comparatively well, and we
47 finished Mr. Fairgreaves in that week and finished Miss
48 Barnes in the following week and finished Mr. Purslow in
49 the following week, we might then have some time towards
50 the end of the next week or at the beginning of what I call
51 Mr. Stein's week. It would be wrong to say I am getting
52 anxious because it is entirely a matter for the parties not
53 for me, but we are getting what I can see may be an
54 accumulation of interlocutory matters which have been put
55 over through a desire to get on with hearing evidence.
56
57 So all I will say at this stage is that I would like you to
58 make your list of topics which you want decided and I would
59 like you to make the list in order of urgency; not
60 necessarily any other logical order but just the order in
