Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 52
1 Q. Why have you had such difficulty in identifying a machine
2 for neck cutting?
3 A. Well, ventral neck cutting is not commonly practised in
4 the UK, and so we had to find a machine that would do this
5 effectively. So we imported one from the United States.
6
7 Q. All the recommendations say that the cut should be to the
8 front of the neck and cut both the carotid arteries, do
9 they not?
10 A. The code of practice says that.
11
12 Q. Would they really make that recommendation if the equipment
13 was not available?
14 A. Well, they did.
15
16 Q. You are seriously suggesting that they did?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 MR. RAMPTON: Is Ms. Steel going to suggest where the equipment
20 might have been obtained in this country during that
21 period?
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: She may not know, but she is suggesting I can
24 draw the inference from the fact that it is recommended
25 that it must be somewhere. Whether, of course, I do draw
26 that inference is another matter. If you think you know of
27 one being available, put it so that ------
28
29 MS. STEEL: What about equipment from Linco?
30 A. What about it?
31
32 Q. Do they not sell ventral neck cutters?
33 A. They may do, but the information I had was that it was
34 not very effective and it did not work as effectively as
35 the one that we have now found.
36
37 Q. So it did work but just ---
38 A. I do not know.
39
40 Q. -- the equipment was available?
41 A. I do not have personal knowledge of it.
42
43 Q. So how deeply did the company look into this?
44 A. We have researched it very thoroughly. Why do you
45 think we called in Dr. Gregory for advice?
46
47 Q. In what way was the Linco one not very effective?
48 A. I am not familiar with the Linco equipment.
49
50 Q. You said the information you had was that it was not very
51 effective and did not work as effectively as the one you
52 have now found?
53 A. That is what I was told by our people who were looking
54 into this.
55
56 Q. They did not tell you why it was not as effective?
57 A. No. I think the line of -----
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, do not -- by all means answer a question
60 but leave it at that, Dr. Pattison.
