Day 247 - 10 May 96 - Page 68


     
     1
     2   MS. STEEL:   We are just not ready for Mr. Nicholson.  He is an
     3        extremely important publication witness.  He has a new
     4        statement which has been served only yesterday.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Who have you got to put in on Tuesday, 14th,
     7        if we do not have Mr. Nicholson, because I think you have
     8        had time to do it.  You have a day of Mr. Nicholson;
     9        I appreciate your cross-examination may not finish in one
    10        day, and he cannot come back on the Thursday.  If Mr. Brett
    11        finished early on the Wednesday he could carry on -----
    12
    13   MR. RAMPTON:  Which he certainly will do.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    16
    17   MR. RAMPTON:  He is certainly not a day's evidence, or even half
    18        a day I doubt.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I certainly think you can cross-examine
    21        Mr. Nicholson.  Some of what he says and the most direct
    22        part of what he says you will, either in your case, accept
    23        or disagree to from your own knowledge and recollection.
    24
    25   MS. STEEL:   The point is -----
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You do not need any preparation for that, or
    28        very little.
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:   Well, that is not actually true.  We got served
    31        another statement yesterday.  I have actually been trying
    32        to make some contact with somebody else who was involved
    33        with London Greenpeace at the time and was on the picket on
    34        16th October in 1989 with the aim of getting a statement
    35        from them.  I mean, there are parts of his evidence that
    36        I can deal with.  However, there are considerable parts and
    37        he covers a very wide ground.  He is the overall person in
    38        charge of the whole publication, the decision to bring the
    39        case, and so on.  He is a major witness, and I am not in a
    40        position to do -----
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  A number of the matters you want to ask him
    43        about, I assume, go to the question of alleged consent to
    44        publication.  You were prepared to put forward a detailed
    45        argument as to why you should have leave in relation to
    46        that and that must have involved you in quite a lot of
    47        preparation, and clearly did from the way you presented
    48        your argument.
    49
    50   MS. STEEL:   It was not done by us, actually. 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It what? 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:   It was not done by us, the argument for putting
    55        forward for -- the argument about consent was done by
    56        somebody else.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I cannot look behind that.  You presented it
    59        perfectly ably in court.
    60

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