Day 304 - 22 Nov 96 - Page 30
1 that the leaflet that is appended to the statement is not
2 the leaflet that was originally attained. We would say
3 that it is significant that the report filed soon after the
4 meeting did not specify which leaflets had been picked up.
5
6 We want to make some points generally in relation to
7 Mr. Russell, about the reliability of his evidence. Bearing
8 in mind, for example, that he did not seem to be able to
9 remember when he had last worked for King's Investigation
10 Bureau, it seems hard to believe that he can remember,
11 three and a half years after the event, when he is making
12 his statement, that he picked up a copy of the fact sheet
13 at that meeting; bearing in mind that that was the only
14 meeting he had ever attended, so it must have been the only
15 time he had ever come into contact with that leaflet. So,
16 it is not as though it is something that he would be
17 familiar with.
18
19 Another point about that meeting, obviously, is that I was
20 not present at that meeting and that there was no evidence
21 at all that Mr. Morris put any leaflets on the table.
22
23 So, just in terms of that date, we would say that there is
24 no evidence which is reliable that the fact sheet was
25 available and distributed on that date.
26
27 Can I just make a further point about the public meetings
28 in general, or the meetings at Ensley Street. It was
29 pointed out by several witnesses that the so-called public
30 meetings, there was not always public there.
31
32 Obviously, on top of the difficulty of knowing whether or
33 not there was a fact sheet available, bearing in mind the
34 weakness of the evidence of its availability, there is also
35 no evidence that if the fact sheet was there, it was picked
36 up by any member of the public. For example, there was
37 reference to the fact that at some of these meetings people
38 would come along who were kind of loosely involved with the
39 group and had not been to meetings for a couple of years
40 or, you know, a few months, or whatever. So, the
41 Plaintiffs' witnesses, investigators, do not identify who
42 was present at the meetings, whether or not they were
43 people who had involvement with the group or whether or not
44 they were so-called ordinary members of the public who had
45 nothing to do with the group. So, that is just like an
46 additional point, really. We would submit that you do not
47 even get to that stage, because there is no proper evidence
48 that the fact sheet was available at any of those
49 meetings.
50
51 I have actually kind of reached a bit of a natural break.
52
53 MR JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to break off there?
54
55 MS. STEEL: If you do not mind, yes.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. 10.30 on Monday.
58
59 (The Court Adjourned)
60
