Day 306 - 26 Nov 96 - Page 41
1
2 The answers that were given by Mr. Nicholson in relation to
3 this just do not add up. The indication is not that he was
4 worried, or -- sorry, the indication is that he was not
5 worried about other people knowing of a potential court
6 case, otherwise why photograph people at all? But just
7 that he was worried that they would find out about the
8 under-cover operation. However, why should they find out
9 about the under-cover operation just because of the
10 photographs?
11
12 The other thing about why he should not trust Mr. Carroll,
13 which does not really add up, is to bear in mind that
14 Mr. Carroll worked under Mr. Nicholson at the Brixton
15 Police Station. So is it really conceivable that
16 Mr. Nicholson does not trust Mr. Carroll with the
17 information or with asking him to take photographs of
18 people distributing the fact sheets? It just does not add
19 up. As I said before, the reality is they did not take any
20 photographs of people handing out fact sheets and myself
21 handing out any leaflets because it was not going on.
22
23 Going on to his evidence of the leaflet distribution,
24 Mr. Nicholson said that his first observation was from
25 inside the ground floor lobby and, at that time, I was
26 holding a banner, he said the right end of the banner.
27 That was day 250, page 37, line 36. I was immediately in
28 front of the window, quite close to the wall outside the
29 window. He said that he did not see Mr. Gravett at that
30 time and that the cow was not there, that he was observing
31 it for about ten minutes at the most at that stage. That
32 is all on pages 37 and 38.
33
34 He then went on to say that 15 minutes later he had come
35 back down to the same place and that I was still holding
36 the banner. That was on day 250, page 38, line 41, and
37 that a performance was going on with the cow play. He went
38 out on the verandah, as he called it, and the picture was
39 still the same. He remained there for about one to three
40 minutes, he said. He said that he saw people leafleting.
41 This was day 250, page 39, line 19. I asked him: "Do you
42 remember which leaflets?" And he said: "I took it to be"
43 -- emphasis -- "because of the size of the leaflets, that
44 it was the leaflet complained of, and I had no reason to
45 believe it was anything else other than that." That was
46 page 39, line 10. So he is making an assumption that it
47 was the fact sheet, because of its height and width, which
48 I have got a reference for later on. That that was the
49 basis for that assumption.
50
51 I cannot remember where the reference for this is.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not worry about that.
54
55 MS. STEEL: He actually said that he recalled there was only
56 one leaflet, and the point being that if at this time he
57 only recalls there being one leaflet he is therefore going
58 to assume that every leaflet that he sees is the fact
59 sheet, and that is therefore going to paint a picture in
60 his mind that he remembers that it was the fact sheet.
