Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 14
1 is no more than an acceptance of the obvious and you have
2 someone who is thoroughly involved in the industry who is
3 prepared to accept that?
4
5 MS. STEEL: Right. Obviously-----
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There you are.
8
9 MS. STEEL: Mr. Walker is thoroughly involved in the industry,
10 and he was called as a witness by McDonald's, and he did
11 make that admission and we should be entitled to use it
12 against the Plaintiffs because they did show-----
13
14 MR. RAMPTON: That is not very difficult. I had intended to
15 use it myself.
16
17 MR JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
18
19 MR. RAMPTON: On the evidence it makes perfect sense.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I only interrupted because it may not be
22 necessary to get too tied up with admissions when I am just
23 looking at whether the evidence is going to prove this that
24 or the other.
25
26 MS. STEEL: I did not mean it in the sense of formal admission,
27 but it is an admission by one of McDonald's own witnesses
28 and they are the sole supplier of beef and pork patties in
29 this country.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
32
33 MS. STEEL: Right. Moving on to torture and murder, we
34 consider that they are obviously matters of opinion, or
35 comments, which are based on the facts as set out in the
36 leaflet, and we consider that this was accepted by the
37 Plaintiffs at the start of the trial and again on a number
38 of subsequent pages.
39
40 On day one of the trial, page 44, Mr. Rampton said,
41 starting at line 19: "McDonald's do not dispute the right
42 of anyone at all, if that should be his honest view, to say
43 in strong terms, if he wishes, that he disapproves of
44 keeping and killing animals for human consumption." And
45 that refers to the keeping of animals not solely to the
46 killing, which would be the murder part. He says, "That is
47 not what this case is about, it is entirely a matter of
48 opinion."
49
50 Then he goes on: "What McDonald's do object to, however,
51 is gross mis-description of the facts underlying the
52 expression of such opinions. Thus, my Lord, in this case,
53 while McDonald's unreservedly accept that a person holding
54 strong views on the matter might honestly describe the
55 slaughter of animals for food as murder they emphatically
56 do not accept that that person or those people are entitled
57 to colour their opinion and to try and incite support for
58 it by falsely asserting as a matter of fact that the
59 animals which McDonald's use..." Then he quotes the
60 section of the fact sheet about 'often struggling to escape
