Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 70
1 anyway. But with Mr. Coton that may well not be the case.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It did not happen with Mr. Gibney.
4
5 MR. RAMPTON: No, it did not. I managed to cope with
6 Mr. Gibney's new material. I had had some notice of that.
7 But Mr. Coton, being a Manager, as it were, a sweep-up for
8 the Colchester witnesses, I (myself) would intend, with
9 your Lordship's approval and (if necessary) direction, to
10 treat this as though it were a formal pleading and go
11 through it chapter and verse.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have just urged you to get the request out
14 as soon as possible. It is common sense that the request
15 ought not to be a search for every possible thing which can
16 be asked, but just the important things. I would have
17 thought that it would actually help Ms. Steel and
18 Mr. Morris because they may then just be able to pass that
19 on to Mr. Coton, who is clearly an intelligent man, who can
20 express himself quite clearly. You may then just be able
21 to pass the request on to him and he may write out his
22 answers for you. You can serve that and your preparation
23 is done.
24
25 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, and then ----
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There then can be no criticism of you anyway
28 that you did not provide this detail or that because you
29 could say, "Well, that is what we have managed to get off
30 Mr. Coton".
31
32 MR. RAMPTON: Can I only say this, that the actual work -- apart
33 from sending a piece of paper to Mr. Coton and getting his
34 answers -- the actual work, if there is any, falls on us
35 when the answers come back, because that is the point at
36 which we are able to investigate in detail what he said.
37 So I would urge that if we get the request out today and
38 tomorrow, I would urge the Defendants to deal with it at
39 once so that we have the maximum time before he gives
40 evidence to deal with it.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All I will say is that I am sure Mr. Morris,
43 if he is dealing with it as soon as he gets the request,
44 will send it on to Mr. Coton, and if he merely says to
45 Mr. Coton that the judge would appreciate his response to
46 it as soon as possible, hopefully there will be no problem
47 about Mr. Coton being called and telling me what he says is
48 the truth of the matter.
49
50 Right. We will adjourn and we will see if there is any
51 dispute at all about the extent of Mr. Jenssen's evidence
52 in the morning. 10.30.
