Day 245 - 07 May 96 - Page 59
1 Q. You were not even telling them that they had got the other
2 parts of the leaflet wrong?
3 A. Well, I do not know what we said in conversation. That
4 was the issue which was involving the statement itself. I
5 am sorry, I do not remember what the entire conversation
6 was of nine years ago, whether it came up or not, whether
7 we compromised on an issue or not, I do not know.
8
9 Q. But you have seen the correspondence there. You have seen
10 the things that Veggies were asked to apologise about. Do
11 you not think that the fact that you did not ask Veggies to
12 apologise over the other things, or at least inform them
13 that you considered them to be incorrect, would lead to the
14 impression that you were quite happy with what was written
15 there?
16 A. I do not know that they were not discussed.
17
18 Q. They are not in the correspondence. I am talking about
19 what you conveyed to Veggies, not what you discussed
20 amongst yourselves?
21 A. I accept that they were not in the correspondence.
22 That does not tell me they were not discussed at some point
23 in time whatsoever. I have no way of knowing that now.
24
25 Q. You mean discussed with Veggies?
26 A. With them or internally or both.
27
28 Q. Right. They might have been discussed internally but there
29 is no evidence that they were discussed with Veggies.
30 Despite the fact that the Peace News article actually
31 refers to the other issues and says that you have not taken
32 any action over them, and that you have not taken any
33 action against London Greenpeace, you did not then consider
34 that it was important to immediately notify Veggies that
35 you considered the whole leaflet to be incorrect?
36 A. Well, as I said, I do not remember the whole
37 discussions of 1987, but I cannot really comment beyond
38 that. We may have talked about it. We may have decided
39 not to pursue it. I do not recall.
40
41 Q. The reality is, is it not, that when you came to sue myself
42 and Mr. Morris and the other 3 Defendants, you just slapped
43 in every single criticism that was in the leaflet in the
44 hope that we would back down and apologise like other
45 people have been forced to do so, and then that would be
46 the end of it because there would be no strand of criticism
47 left which could be aired?
48 A. Ms. Steel, I do not take litigation lightly. I went
49 into it off the back of statements made in a leaflet here
50 I find to be offensive and defamatory. I cannot explain
51 here and now why the Veggies retraction did not talk about
52 some of the other issues, I do not know. The fact remains
53 that in your leaflet the statements are there and we chose
54 to act on them.
55
56 Q. Effectively, you gave the green light to Veggies to reprint
57 the fact sheet with minor changes in only two places in the
58 rainforest and the torture and murder of animals, is that
59 not right?
60 A. No. I did not give a green light to anybody. Those
