Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 47
1 are a good boy and tell us what other people are doing
2 wrong you might get a pay rise or a promotion"?
3 A. I did not have someone phrase anything quite so
4 directly, but it was put to me that I should report on
5 staff who I felt were not fulfilling their task or if I had
6 anything worth saying it would be worth relating it before
7 I was a member of the training squad.
8
9 Q. Who put that to you?
10 A. Whichever Manager decided to befriend me at that --
11 there was a Manager called Ganesh who used to go round
12 asking the staff if they had anything to say about other
13 staff.
14
15 Q. Ganesh?
16 A. That is right.
17
18 Q. He would be of Indian extraction?
19 A. He was Asian, yes.
20
21 Q. He is one of the Asian Managers that you accuse in your
22 statement of racism; is that right?
23 A. No, I am not accusing him of doing that, but I did say
24 in my statement that Asian Managers or non-white Managers
25 were happy to turn a blind eye to it or give an acceptable
26 veneer to it. I think he personally was not really like
27 that, but other Managers definitely were.
28
29 Q. This will be my last question this evening, Mr. Whittle:
30 Tell me what Ganesh or Ganis said to you before you became
31 a trainer that you took to be some kind of indication that
32 you should sneak on other members of the crew?
33 A. Well, there was a discussion about, raised by a Floor
34 Manager, whose name was Paul, about whether one of the
35 members of staff was gay or not, and did I think he was gay
36 because it seemed quite obvious, and I said that I did not
37 think it was really relevant to discuss that sort of thing,
38 and then Ganesh said, "If you ever see him doing anything,
39 make sure you let me know; if you ever see him doing
40 anything he should not be make sure you let me know".
41
42 Q. Who?
43 A. I do not remember the person's name now.
44
45 Q. Ganesh encouraged you to rat on the person who was
46 suspected of being gay; is that what you are telling us?
47 A. That is right, yes. There was a lot of homophobia in
48 the store.
49
50 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I leave it there for now?
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, let me just finish my note.
53
54 MS. STEEL: Sorry, there was something I wanted to raise before
55 we left, please.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. (To the witness): By all means leave
58 now, Mr. Whittle, but get back comfortably before half past
59 10 outside the court so you can continue in the morning.
60
