Day 261 - 12 Jun 96 - Page 53


     
     1        they were names that you recollect from the group?
     2        A.  No, no, it is not.  I do not know why I remember who
     3        I remember.  Most of the names that I have remembered,
     4        I think, are names of people who I possibly spoke to more
     5        than other members of the group.
     6
     7   Q.   Of the meetings that you attended, New Zealand John was at
     8        least two of those.  So, in your view, would that make him
     9        a regular attender?
    10        A.  I suppose by one definition of regular, it would make
    11        him a regular attender, yes.
    12
    13   Q.   Right.  So, by some definitions, you would not consider him
    14        to be a regular attender?
    15        A.  I do not know his full attendance history.  I do not
    16        remember when he attended when I was attending exactly,
    17        because I am not looking through my notes.  But if you say
    18        I was there 26 times and he was there 12 of them, then he
    19        is a fairly regular attender during my period, I suppose.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Is the position this, that certain things are
    22        in your memory, regardless of looking at your notes; you
    23        can remember some things?
    24        A.  That is the case, my Lord, yes.  I have a recollection
    25        of some of the people.  There were other people who
    26        attended who were very quiet within the group.
    27
    28   Q.   I am not necessarily thinking of the identity of people.
    29        But identity of people, events, some things you can
    30        remember without your notes; is that right?
    31        A.  That is certainly the case, yes.
    32
    33   Q.   Some things you would have to go to your notes before you
    34        can give anything like a reliable answer?
    35        A.  Yes, that is true.
    36
    37   Q.   Is that right?
    38        A.  That is true.
    39
    40   Q.   I am only putting this to you because it is my experience
    41        that it is typical, when people are looking back something
    42        like six or seven years, as you are.  Therefore, to some
    43        extent it is pot luck whether you can answer a question
    44        Ms. Steel asks you, whether you can answer it from your
    45        memory or whether you would have to look at a particular
    46        note or, indeed, all your notes in order to give an
    47        answer.
    48        A.  That is the case, yes.  Yes, my Lord.
    49
    50   Q.   If you are asked whether so-and-so was a regular attender, 
    51        you might be able to say in relation to one person you 
    52        thought they were, from your memory, and in relation to 
    53        another you would have to check back through your notes to
    54        see how often they cropped up, and then judge for yourself
    55        whether that seemed regular to you?
    56        A.  That is true, yes.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I only put this to you, because it is my
    59        experience of what happens in the kind of situation where
    60        witnesses have to look back over a number of years.  There

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