Day 245 - 07 May 96 - Page 30


     
     1        we were only represented by a City law firm and libel
     2        barristers for the appeal and not for the actual trial or
     3        the pre-trial hearings?
     4        A.  I do not remember whether I was or not.
     5
     6   Q.   So that was another thing you did not bother to check on
     7        before you authorised the publication of this press
     8        statement?
     9        A.  What is on that statement is true.
    10
    11   Q.   It is not true?
    12        A.  I am sorry, I disagree with you.  It is true.
    13
    14   Q.   Where are these barristers then?
    15        A.  I do not know who you talked to out-of-hours, where you
    16        go now.  They certainly were there at a moment in time.
    17
    18   Q.   It is talking about the appointment of barristers?
    19        A.  You will have to tell me where they are at.
    20
    21   Q.   I am telling you they do not exist as I said they did at
    22        the appeal.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  This is getting a bit of an arid argument
    25        now, is it not? I have got your point.  You need not go
    26        over it.  You say that it creates the impression that you
    27        had legal representation for the duration not just for the
    28        appeal.
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:  The point of that, Mr. Preston, was to dissuade
    31        people from responding to appeals for money for paying
    32        witnesses' fares and for things like that; was it not?
    33        A.  That is not true.
    34
    35   Q.   Where it says in the next paragraph:
    36
    37        "The group have suggested that McDonald's used 'spies' to
    38        infiltrate the group, - it is important to note that their
    39        meetings were advertised as public meetings and in order to
    40        establish precisely who was responsible for distributing
    41        the lies in the leaflet, these meetings were indeed
    42        attended on McDonald's behalf."
    43
    44        It appears there that you are trying to indicate that the
    45        group -- I am not sure whether that is meant to refer to
    46        London Greenpeace or the McLibel Support Campaign -- are
    47        making it up, that McDonald's used spies to infiltrate the
    48        group, are not you?
    49        A.  No.
    50 
    51   Q.   But you finally had to concede that actually private 
    52        investigators did attend meetings of London Greenpeace? 
    53        A.  They attended public meetings, yes.
    54
    55   Q.   What do you know about whether they were public or private?
    56        A.  They were advertised as public.
    57
    58   Q.   Advertised where?
    59        A.  In your documents.  I believe some of those documents
    60        are shown in my addendums to my statement we talked about

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