Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 68
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would like further enquiries to be made.
3 It may very well be that it will not come to it and the
4 cross-examination of him will be finished in a week. But
5 I can see he is an important witness, and one certainly
6 cannot say, "You must be restricted to that week". You are
7 not contemplating that because ----
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9 MR. RAMPTON: I did not say that.
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11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I appreciate that because you are thinking of
12 him coming back. From my own personal point of view,
13 I like to see witnesses getting through and completing
14 their evidence if one possibly can.
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16 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, we will certainly look into it.
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18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would like you to look into it. Quite
19 apart from any merit I may think there is in what Ms. Steel
20 said, I have my own position to consider and, quite apart
21 from the satisfaction, one gets a feeling, "Well, that
22 witness has completed his evidence". It is much easier to
23 follow if it is continuous and one does not have to go back
24 more often than is necessary.
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26 MR. RAMPTON: I agree with that myself. It is a question of
27 balancing one thing against another. All I was saying was
28 that I am not greatly impressed by Ms. Steel's supposed
29 difficulty after three weeks in preparing to continue the
30 last remnants of cross-examination.
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32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Whether or not you are right about that, I am
33 not happy with a five week gap, yet another witness with a
34 ----
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36 MR. RAMPTON: With respect, my Lord, it is not five; it is
37 three.
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39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, quite right.
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41 MR. RAMPTON: Whether it matters it is three or five is another
42 question.
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44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It may come to the same thing. I would like
45 you to make the enquiry. I would like if it is at all
46 possible, even though it may mean some inconvenience to
47 Mr. Stein or to his employer, for him to be done in one
48 bite if he possibly can be.
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50 MR. RAMPTON: We will see what we can do.
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52 My Lord, the last thing I would like to raise is an
53 entirely personal thing, and I hope it will be the only
54 time in this long case where I ask your Lordship for an
55 indulgence. Normally one would do it by writing to the
56 judge, but I think in a case like this it is better to do
57 it in open court. I have a son being married in Cumbria in
58 the week of the 8th July. That being the location, I was
59 wondering whether your Lordship would allow me at any rate
60 some part of Friday 7th and/or Monday 10th off?
