Day 265 - 19 Jun 96 - Page 79


     
     1        need notice because I have to cross-examine these people
     2        and I have to cross-examine them about particular dates and
     3        occasions.  It is important that I have -- I do not need a
     4        formal witness statement -- so long as I have an indication
     5        of which witness is going to say what about each of the
     6        inquiry agents in as much detail as the witness can
     7        remember -- I do not expect people to remember chapter and
     8        verse (I think only Mr. Morris expects that) after six
     9        years -- but I really do.  I mean, if there is, for
    10        example, a picket where it is said that one of the inquiry
    11        agents dished out antiMcDonald's leaflets, I need to know
    12        when the picket was and where it took place.  If it turns
    13        out it was Michelle Hooker in January 1991, it may not
    14        matter a row of beans.  If it is said it is somebody else
    15        much earlier on, then it may matter.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would like to deal with that as soon as we
    18        have finished Miss Brophy's evidence tomorrow.
    19
    20   MR. RAMPTON:  I am grateful to your Lordship.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Now, what else tomorrow?  Have you got some
    23        reading you can do, or is there something particularly you
    24        want to deal with?
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:   I mean, there are probably any number of things
    27        that we could do, for example the statements, but also the
    28        computer printouts or we can read out some statements.
    29        Sorry, not the computer printouts but the accepted
    30        documents.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, the various documents.  How far have you
    33        got with that?
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:   We have made a start but not got very far at all.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, can I say, for entirely personal reasons,
    40        I hate being in court when the statements are read.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You would not have to be.
    43
    44   MR. RAMPTON:   I would not have to be, no.  But I do not believe
    45        that is an important function in this case.  I know the
    46        Defendants do not agree with me, but I really think that is
    47        right at the bottom of the level of priorities.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is at the bottom of the ladder of
    50        priorities because if we get near a date when I think the 
    51        evidence should be finished, whatever view I have taken so 
    52        far, if reading cannot be squeezed in in the time I will 
    53        just have to say "no".
    54
    55   MR. RAMPTON:  Well, that is right.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will take them as read and they will not be
    58        read out in open court.  There is no point in it.  The
    59        relevant parts can be referred to in submissions without
    60        reading them all out as evidence to lead to such and such a

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