Day 128 - 24 May 95 - Page 62


     
     1        look at those, and I do not think it is productive to
     2        discuss any possible dispute further.
     3
     4   MR. RAMPTON:  No.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There may be an issue and an argument.  It
     7        may be found they contain something relevant.  If they do,
     8        it may be thought that the right thing to do is to disclose
     9        the lot, rather than, say, the two or three which might
    10        have something relevant in, I do not know.  In any event,
    11        it may be thought that there really is no harm in
    12        disclosing the ones seen, on the basis that one will then
    13        have to look and see whether there is anything which
    14        Mrs. Barnes can fairly be cross-examined on, or which might
    15        justify her recall in the future.  But all this is talking
    16        in, what I at the moment see as, a vacuum because no-one,
    17        who is qualified to offer a view on the matter, has
    18        actually seen them.
    19
    20   MR. RAMPTON:  No, my Lord.  Can I suggest a way of dealing with
    21        it?  Time is of the essence.  I do not want Mrs. Barnes to
    22        have to come back, if it can be avoided.  Ms. Steel
    23        indicated the other day that she thought her
    24        cross-examination would not last much more than a day.
    25        Assuming, without these documents, she finishes -- she
    26        might have them in her hand by tomorrow morning, but I
    27        doubt it -- she finishes -- if there are any -- some time
    28        tomorrow morning, we will, meanwhile, obtain from East
    29        Finchley the relevant files.  Mr. Atkinson, if he is not
    30        going to the races, or I, or both of us, will go through
    31        them sometime tomorrow, possibly tonight if we get them in
    32        time, but I doubt we shall, go through them tomorrow after
    33        court, whenever that is, and we will make a decision
    34        whether, and, if so, what parts of them might be
    35        disclosable.  That is the best I can offer.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What were the other documents you had in
    38        mind?  The HMSO publication you can leave for the moment.
    39        Do not forget that -- I will say this while I remember to
    40        say it -- when you get documents, it does not necessarily
    41        mean you actually need to ask a witness questions about
    42        them.
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:  No.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Obviously, if you see something in the
    47        document which is totally inconsistent with what a witness
    48        has said, it may be important to put that to the witness,
    49        but something like the HMSO document might very well be the
    50        kind of document which, whether or not you put it to a 
    51        witness, you will ask me to consider in due course in 
    52        support of an argument, one way or the other.  Anyway, tell 
    53        me about the other documents.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:  OK.  I just found on the transcript where
    56        Mrs. Barnes referred to the rest of 57M, and she said:  "It
    57        was a summary of the progress we made on safety to the end
    58        of 1993".  That was roughly page 7 line 29.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just list the documents.

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