Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 08
1 Q. Mr. Preston, there were five defendants that you served
2 writs on for exactly the same 16 different issues or points
3 which you brought the action over, and when those 3 people
4 reluctantly apologised in court, you put out a press
5 release trumpeting that?
6 A. After the fact, yes, not before.
7
8 Q. Yes, but it was before the start of ----
9 A. Ms. Steel ----
10
11 Q. -- an action for exactly the same issues?
12 A. No. Ms. Steel, this was a matter ----
13
14 Q. With myself and Mr. Morris?
15 A. Once these people had done what was done in open court,
16 this is a matter of public record. We are talking about
17 two totally separate, distinct issues here.
18
19 Q. Your aim in putting out a press release after those 3
20 people had reluctantly apologised was to try and convince
21 the media and the public that myself and Mr. Morris had no
22 case; is not that right?
23 A. No. By putting out a press release it was merely to
24 report what happened in the face of inquiries, pre-empt a
25 few of those inquiries hopefully.
26
27 Q. Nobody knew about it, did they?
28 A. Well, it is a matter of public record if it happened in
29 a courtroom.
30
31 Q. It might have been a matter of public record if someone had
32 happened to be in the court on that day.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where are we actually going on this? I am
35 not interested in any of the press releases or how any
36 party in the case is approached by the media, save in so
37 far as it helps me to an issue.
38
39 MS. STEEL: Right.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If it helps me on whether the press releases
42 you complain of were defamatory or whether there was some
43 qualified privilege for them, or something like that, then
44 I can see that motivation may go to that and then it is
45 relevant, but it may surprise you, I do not think it
46 probably will, I really am not interested in the
47 relationships of any party in this case with the media.
48
49 MS. STEEL: Right.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Save in so far as I can see that it does bear
52 upon an issue such as that.
53
54 MS. STEEL: The only reason I was bringing it up was because
55 they said they had only responded to McLibel Support
56 Campaign media.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Very well, but you have put that point. The
59 other thing I would suggest is when we have clearly got an
60 issue between what you are putting and Mr. Preston's
