Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 12
1 all was dealt with, and it has not been.
2
3 MS. STEEL: But that was a long time ago now and they have not
4 objected to it.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not refer to the report, because again,
7 you see, you make a rod for your own back every time you
8 refer to the report because it looks as if it is just a way
9 of reading from the report. If you pick up the report,
10 hold it in your hand and say: "If X happened, what would
11 you say?" I am prepared to hear the answer. That may be
12 going further than I should but I am prepared to hear the
13 answer. But every time you, as it were, seek to bring out
14 that it is in the PHLS report, you bring me back, as a
15 Judge, to the technicalities of it. You can easily avoid
16 that.
17
18 MS. STEEL: The thing is that this document is not just about
19 the Preston incident; it has ramifications for the whole
20 system. If Mr. North feels he has something to say about
21 that, then he should be allowed to give that evidence. It
22 is a scientific report. I do not see there is any
23 difference between that and any other scientific report.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not going to keep giving decisions on
26 this.
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: May I say this, if Mr. North is proposing to make
29 scientific or expert comments on the Preston report, it
30 ought to be in a statement or report of evidence served on
31 us some very considerable time ago -- and it has not been.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: That is absolute rubbish, because Mr. North
34 referred to the incidents, I believe the Preston incident
35 by name in his original report.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Refer me to that and we can see how far he
38 went into it.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: I believe I might have the wrong .....
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We cannot abandon normal procedures for the
43 sake of one particular case.
44
45 MR. MORRIS: The Plaintiffs have disclosed documents of Richard
46 North; their scientific documents include references to
47 investigations. Here is an investigation that is not an
48 academic investigation.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will either stop you dealing with it
51 altogether or you can follow the course I have just
52 suggested which will be just as efficient. I do not know
53 whether you have gone away to take advice on this. You
54 find it difficult to accept my ruling, but you do not come
55 back with any argument which you have not presented before.
56 So, my ruling is bound to stay the same.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: With respect, first of all, we are guided by the
59 discussion that has been had in this court.
60
