Day 265 - 19 Jun 96 - Page 72
1 assert in terms of what photographs and what have you were
2 taken for, they were not for any sinister purpose at all
3 and, you know, we are not remotely interested in
4 threatening the witnesses or trying to intimidate them, or
5 doing -- I do not know, taking any kind of action. It
6 actually strikes me that myself and Mr. Morris are in more
7 of a threat than anybody else, bearing in mind that the
8 office had been broken into, we have been followed home and
9 things like that, and photographs have been taken of us.
10 Not just on pickets, but in the street and in other places
11 and I just do not think that the Plaintiff has got anything
12 to complain about and I think that this is relevant
13 information. We could check up the firm that Mr. Claire
14 was working for. Find out whether it is a reputable firm
15 or not and ask Mr. Claire about it as is relevant. That is
16 basically it.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Thank you Mr. Morris do you want to say
19 anything in addition to those points?
20
21 MR. MORRIS: Yes. The only thing I knew about the conversations
22 with Michelle Hooker was that they were not, that I was
23 told that she had denied being Michelle Hooker. The
24 Plaintiffs have now confirmed it was Michelle Hooker but
25 until that time we had to assume that she was telling the
26 truth when she denied being Michelle Hooker and therefore,
27 we had made no contact. We were hoping to call her a
28 witness as we have called Francis Tiller and, in fact, it
29 was completely counter productive to any attempt to call
30 her as a witness if we in anyway showed any negative view
31 what about she had done, even though she had infiltrated
32 the group, taken photographs and been part of a whole
33 series of quite disgusting activities, abusing the trust of
34 London Greenpeace and it was still counterproductive and
35 when we contacted Francis Tiller we were very, very
36 concerned and said we have no enmity at all but were just
37 trying to talk to them about the truth of the situation and
38 hope they would comes as a witness for us, and that way we
39 approached the Michelle Hooker situation. So it is not
40 only come absolutely not true but absolutely unbelievable
41 that we should have made any threats because it is just
42 against our interests and certainly be against our belief
43 to do so.
44
45 So yes, the thing is that the information about what the
46 firm a person works for, I do not see what the problem is.
47 It cannot lead to -- it is important information. It is
48 very basic information that you would get from any
49 witness. You have to know who they are acting for, whether
50 they be employed by McDonald's but whether they are also
51 employed by that particular firm. So we would be entitled
52 to that information. We can make guarantees if it is said
53 in Chambers that we will not make it public, but we are
54 entitled to do research based upon that information.
55
56 MR. RAMPTON: I do not know about that last comment at all.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If the question is to be asked and answered,
59 it should be done in open Court.
60
