Day 097 - 06 Mar 95 - Page 86
1 finish him then and him having to come back yet again.
2 I am sympathetic to the plea for some extension of the
3 Easter time, really bearing in mind what Ms. Steel told me
4 this morning. It would, effectively, add a court week if
5 those three days were not in court, plus the one and a half
6 days what would have been the beginning of next term. I am
7 not prepared to say we will not sit at that time because
8 if, for instance, your witnesses under this head were going
9 to trickle over for either one or two days, I think we
10 should complete them, so we effectively completed this. So
11 I think, as I asked you to do over the half term, you
12 should try to make some provisional arrangement in relation
13 to your own position while hoping it will not be necessary
14 to make use of it.
15
16 MR. RAMPTON: I make no comment about that.
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Leave that for a moment Mr. Rampton.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: We want to point out as far as Mr. Beaver is
21 concerned, we feel we need quite substantial preparation
22 for Mr. Beavers because he potentially covers a very broad
23 area. I know that you have already said how you feel about
24 it, but we would support that.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Whatever the position is with regard to
27 Mr. Beavers, I might say I do not want him that week, but
28 I think McDonald's should have the opportunity to find out
29 just what his position is. I cannot say it more plainly
30 than I very much hope that he can in fact give his evidence
31 at another time for a variety of reasons, not least of
32 which is the totally independent one that I think it would
33 be disastrous if he was called and for a perfectly good
34 reason it turned out that he could not be completed within
35 thee days and he goes back to America and has to come back
36 yet again. There we are. I think it only right to give
37 McDonald's the opportunity to see just what his position is
38 before I make a decision.
39
40 MR. RAMPTON: We have that firm in our mind, my Lord. I do not
41 think that he would be very pleased having come over here
42 and then to have to come back yet again. I do not know
43 when he can come back again. We will do as your Lordship
44 suggests and try to get him back on Monday.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The other aspect which I would like you to
47 consider is with regard to him and Mr. Preston in their
48 positions of authority. If they can come after a very
49 considerable proportion of the evidence has been called in
50 case there are matters which they can deal with with their
51 overall view of matters, but not so near the end of the
52 evidence that there is no time to collect further
53 information which may arise from any cross-examination,
54 then I think there is some advantage in that. But there is
55 a limit to the extent to which a judge can start preaching
56 to the party as to when witnesses should or not should not
57 be called.
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: I respectfully agree with your Lordship. If they
60 are called later the shorter they ought to be because much
