Day 248 - 13 May 96 - Page 53
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2 MR. MORRIS: It says "throughout London", just for the record.
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: "Throughout London", yes; that is important.
5 "This depends on local supporters or group doing their
6 local stores. We are co-ordinating this ambitious blitz to
7 ensure it is as widespread and effective as possible and
8 that overlaps which are unnecessary are avoided. In
9 preparation, 25,000 leaflets have been initially printed
10 and are just itching to be shoved into the willing hands of
11 an eager public. We enclose a list of McDonald's in
12 London. Please indicate the ones you and your friends are
13 able to cover and how many leaflets you need".
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15 If that be a threat, Mr. Preston, was that a threat you
16 were conscious of at the time when your own press releases
17 went out in March?
18 A. I certainly would have known about this in advance. I
19 would have been conscious of it. It is worrying.
20
21 Q. Then moving onto the next document to the next month, again
22 much of the same. You notice it is headed, "McLibel
23 Support Campaign, press office, Friday, February 11th, 1994
24 for immediate release"; do you see that?
25 A. I do.
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27 Q. Please turn to the second page. This, Mr. Preston, is in
28 case the Defendants should deny responsibility for these
29 documents, which I dare say they may. At the top of the
30 second page, Mr. Preston, we see in quotes this: "The cost
31 of legal representation, say the Defendants, is hugely
32 expensive and no legal aid is available to fight libel
33 cases. It is for these reasons that most people apologise
34 for what they have said, not because it was untrue. The
35 purpose of libel law is not, as we are told, to uphold
36 truth, but rather to ensure that critics are wealthy people
37 and powerful organisations are silenced".
38 A. Yes.
39
40 Q. Does that ring any bells with you from the immediate past?
41 A. As far as I am concerned, the libel laws exist to
42 protect everybody.
43
44 Q. Then you see again -- I am not going to ask you to read it
45 through -- but the penultimate paragraph on that page,
46 "Steel and Morris insist" etc, and there is some more in
47 quotes about the use of what they are pleased to call
48 "spies".
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50 Finally, I ask you to note in passing that on the last page
51 of this document under "Free Speech Pledge" there is
52 another statement that, "hundreds of groups and individuals
53 have already pledged to continue to hand out the leaflets,
54 whatever the result of the McLibel trial". The last
55 document I would ask you to look at is the 5th March, 1994,
56 which, again, is before you uttered anything on your side.
57 The second page, the paragraph beginning "Steel and
58 Morris"; do you see that?
59 A. I do.
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