Day 307 - 27 Nov 96 - Page 62
1
2 That was not all very coherently put, but I think buried in
3 that was what I wanted to say. It is probably a good time
4 to finish.
5
6 MR JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to say anything more this
7 evening?
8
9 MS. STEEL: Yes. Before we go there was a couple of matters
10 which I wanted to get out of the way, so I don't have to
11 think about them any more. It was just about the two
12 instances that McDonald's allege about publication of the
13 fact sheet since the writs were served on us. Obviously,
14 it is our view that these cannot really be taken into
15 consideration with regards to the counterclaim. But in
16 case the Plaintiffs are going to continue to try and argue
17 that they should be, I just wanted to deal briefly with the
18 evidence Mr. Howes, on day 259, page 62.
19
20 Obviously, you will remember that he gave evidence about
21 coming into court on 30th June, which would have been the
22 third day of the trial, and supposedly seeing a couple of
23 tourists leaving with a copy of the photocopy, not an
24 original copy, of the London Greenpeace fact sheet. He
25 said that when he came along the court was very busy. That
26 was on page 62, line 50. But he then said that on our side
27 of the court there were very few people -- that was
28 page 63, line 6 -- which I would say is all very
29 convenient, because he is well aware that if he carried on
30 with his original answer that the court was very busy, that
31 he was not actually going to be able to see what was going
32 on the row behind us, because there would have been
33 people's heads in the way. He did actually say that he had
34 been sitting at the back of court; I cannot remember
35 whether it was right at the back or the next row forward,
36 or something like that, but it was one of the rows right at
37 the back.
38
39 Now, he said there were people sitting behind us, in the
40 court, which there would have been at that time, because, I
41 mean, I know now and for a considerable section of the
42 trial, there has not been anybody sitting behind us --
43 well, there is one person now -- but at the start of the
44 trial, if you can remember that far back, there were legal
45 assistants sitting behind us and there were people from
46 Veggies coming down -- I think it was Mr. Smith, the first
47 week, came down, and he was fetching documents for us,
48 sitting in the row behind us. Those legal assistants and
49 Patrick from Veggies would have had piles of document to do
50 with the case, so that they could follow what was going
51 on. I did say this, in effect, in the witness box, but I
52 have not had time to look up exactly what I said. But you
53 would have seen it with your own eyes, anyway.
54
55 Mr. Howes said there was a pile of leaflets behind us. He
56 admitted on page 63, line 50, that he did not see anything
57 from that pile of papers being distributed.
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59 I asked him: "The pile of papers which you saw just behind
60 us, with the A4 size photocopy on the top, did you see
