Day 147 - 04 Jul 95 - Page 31


     
     1
     2        Then I come -- and this is the last I shall say about
     3        this -----
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is entirely up to me, is it not, because
     6        no one can force anything on me; and if, at the end of the
     7        day, I just felt uncomfortable having something which the
     8        Defendants did not have, that is entirely a matter for my
     9        personal preference.
    10
    11   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, my Lord, but we would urge, for the reasons
    12        I have given, that it was a preference in that direction
    13        which we would rather your Lordship did not have -- if
    14        I may put it as politely as that.  We would much prefer
    15        your Lordship had it; not for our sake directly, at all,
    16        not because we are trying to put things over on the
    17        Defendants.
    18
    19        That brings me to the closely connected second point; and
    20        this is really the nub of it.  By what they said just
    21        before the adjournment, the Defendants have now, in effect,
    22        exposed the true reason why they want these transcripts.
    23        Were they to give the undertaking for which we have asked,
    24        that would have certain consequences.  The first is, of
    25        course, that they would have daily access to the transcript
    26        for the conduct of the trial.  They would have CaseView,
    27        but without the disk which enabled them to print out
    28        materials for re-publication outside, because I understand
    29        that the machine can be emasculated in a way which deprives
    30        one of that facility, but still works in court, which is
    31        what its principal use is supposed to be.
    32
    33        If the use of transcripts was confined in the way which we
    34        understood it would be when we offered to pay for them in
    35        the first place, that would prevent the dissemination of
    36        the distorted kinds of reports which the Defendants now
    37        admit they have been responsible for.  At the same time, it
    38        would make no impact on their conduct of the trial, because
    39        no undertaking that we sought would prevent their using
    40        transcripts for the proper conduct of case.  That includes,
    41        of course, showing the transcripts, as necessary, to legal
    42        advisers for help in the case and, on a limited basis,
    43        where witnesses needed to see them, to those witnesses as
    44        well.
    45
    46        What it would prevent (and this is what this is all about)
    47        is their disseminating it to, as they have now said,
    48        journalists and the McLibel Support campaign and similar
    49        like-minded -----
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I understand what you are saying then, 
    52        because, as I understood it just before we adjourned, the 
    53        undertaking you asked for was that they should not show it
    54        or read from it to anyone.  I thought that the reason for
    55        that might be that you were concerned -- you had better put
    56        me right, if this is wrong -- that some of the people who
    57        are witnesses or some of the people whom they treat as
    58        advisers might do that which you would like to avoid, i.e.,
    59        pass it on to other parties altogether.
    60

Prev Next Index