Day 248 - 13 May 96 - Page 49
1 were false?
2 A. My position in sending out to our stores and making
3 available to media the documents we have talked about now
4 for some time was to counter balance that which you,
5 yourselves, via the McLibel Support Campaign had already
6 done. That was the singular purpose.
7
8 Q. Yes, but your position is, what you are saying in those
9 leaflets and those press releases is that myself and
10 Mr. Morris are deliberately deceiving the public when we
11 know that the contents of the leaflets are untrue?
12 A. It is exactly what you are saying I have been doing.
13
14 Q. I am asking you about what your position was as a company
15 when you put these leaflets and press releases out?
16 A. I just stated that.
17
18 Q. Yes. Your position is that myself and Mr. Morris are
19 deliberately deceiving the public when we know perfectly
20 well that the contents of the leaflet are untrue?
21 A. I put the leaflets out for one purpose and one purpose
22 alone: To counter balance the material you, yourselves,
23 via the McLibel Support Campaign, had put out. It was for
24 no other purpose than that.
25
26 Q. Is there some reason why you cannot answer the question?
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think he has. I think, asking it again,
29 may have caused some puzzlement. As I understand it, what
30 you are saying is, at the time the press releases were put
31 out you thought Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris were involved in
32 the leaflets' publication and you thought that they knew
33 that matters in the leaflet were false?
34 A. That is correct.
35
36 Q. And they were deliberately putting out the leaflets knowing
37 that they were false?
38 A. That is correct.
39
40 Q. That is what you believe now and that is what you say now?
41 A. I believe that now. The press releases, as I remember
42 them, in themselves once again comment on everything that
43 has been said previously by the Defendants is true, 100 per
44 cent true. I believe in the press releases. I am merely
45 trying to counter balance that.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: (To Ms. Steel): Do not be anxious about
48 forgetting something. There will be many loose ends which
49 will remain lost in this case.
50
51 MS. STEEL: OK. I think that is probably it, then.
52
53 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you. Is there any re-examination?
56
57 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. I will do a little bit which I was not going
58 to do if your Lordship does not mind. I did not do it in
59 chief. I could have done, but in view of that last
60 exchange between Mr. Preston and Ms. Steel your Lordship
