Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 44


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If we just look at the part which Ms. Steel
     2        was referring the witness to, the part about opening up the
     3        cheeks is part of a quote which starts with the procedures,
     4        as far as I can see, and ends with "across the country".
     5
     6   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, that is right.
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is attributed to one long-time Montfort
     9        worker.  So, it is not like the gentleman who, it is said,
    10        was the source of the quotes on the previous page, not the
    11        Vice President of Quality Assurance, but the 25 year-old --
    12        I do not know what being tall and dark haired adds to the
    13        weight of his quote, but that is all part of making the
    14        journalism attractive -- and a Civil Evidence Act notice,
    15        I suppose, could be drafted in a way which made it clear
    16        that the statement was of an otherwise unidentifiable
    17        long-time Montfort worker to an unidentified person
    18        involved in the preparation of this article, but one is
    19        really ------
    20
    21   MS. STEEL:  Leanne Claudine ------
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Sorry?
    24
    25   MR. RAMPTON:  No, because if one looks at the end of the article
    26        one finds, in fact, that she relies heavily on other
    27        sources.
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  You might be right, one just does not
    30        know, you see.
    31
    32   MR. RAMPTON:  No.  One has not the least idea how many hands of
    33        hearsay one is dealing with here.  The fact is that even if
    34        that unidentified person who talks about the removal of the
    35        cheeks, opening up of the cheeks, whatever it is, spoke
    36        directly to Leanne, whatever she is called, even that is
    37        double hearsay so far as the Civil Evidence Act notice is
    38        concerned.  She would have to turn up in court and say:
    39        "That is what the man said".
    40
    41   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I might need some help on that.
    42
    43   MR. RAMPTON:  I agree.
    44
    45   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The statement which would be the subject of
    46        the Civil Evidence Act notice would be the statement of the
    47        unidentified long-term Monfort worker, not the person who
    48        was relating what was said.  One only has to pose it in
    49        that form to see that one really might be able to attach no
    50        weight to it at all, when you do not even know who the 
    51        person was, there is no way of checking whether he or she 
    52        would be in a position to know these things. 
    53        So, by all means consider your technical, legal position,
    54        but think about where you can actually sensibly take me on
    55        it.
    56
    57        What I am about to say is not a jibe at the press, but over
    58        very many years one has read a lot of the things in the
    59        papers which one was directly involved which you know,
    60        because you have been there, are just wrong.  So, it does

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