Day 248 - 13 May 96 - Page 53


     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:  It says "throughout London", just for the record.
     3
     4   MR. RAMPTON:  "Throughout London", yes; that is important.
     5        "This depends on local supporters or group doing their
     6        local stores.  We are co-ordinating this ambitious blitz to
     7        ensure it is as widespread and effective as possible and
     8        that overlaps which are unnecessary are avoided.  In
     9        preparation, 25,000 leaflets have been initially printed
    10        and are just itching to be shoved into the willing hands of
    11        an eager public.  We enclose a list of McDonald's in
    12        London.  Please indicate the ones you and your friends are
    13        able to cover and how many leaflets you need".
    14
    15        If that be a threat, Mr. Preston, was that a threat you
    16        were conscious of at the time when your own press releases
    17        went out in March?
    18        A.  I certainly would have known about this in advance.  I
    19        would have been conscious of it.  It is worrying.
    20
    21   Q.   Then moving onto the next document to the next month, again
    22        much of the same.  You notice it is headed, "McLibel
    23        Support Campaign, press office, Friday, February 11th, 1994
    24        for immediate release"; do you see that?
    25        A.  I do.
    26
    27   Q.   Please turn to the second page.  This, Mr. Preston, is in
    28        case the Defendants should deny responsibility for these
    29        documents, which I dare say they may.  At the top of the
    30        second page, Mr. Preston, we see in quotes this:  "The cost
    31        of legal representation, say the Defendants, is hugely
    32        expensive and no legal aid is available to fight libel
    33        cases.  It is for these reasons that most people apologise
    34        for what they have said, not because it was untrue.  The
    35        purpose of libel law is not, as we are told, to uphold
    36        truth, but rather to ensure that critics are wealthy people
    37        and powerful organisations are silenced".
    38        A.  Yes.
    39
    40   Q.   Does that ring any bells with you from the immediate past?
    41        A.  As far as I am concerned, the libel laws exist to
    42        protect everybody.
    43
    44   Q.   Then you see again -- I am not going to ask you to read it
    45        through -- but the penultimate paragraph on that page,
    46        "Steel and Morris insist" etc, and there is some more in
    47        quotes about the use of what they are pleased to call
    48        "spies".
    49
    50        Finally, I ask you to note in passing that on the last page 
    51        of this document under "Free Speech Pledge" there is 
    52        another statement that, "hundreds of groups and individuals 
    53        have already pledged to continue to hand out the leaflets,
    54        whatever the result of the McLibel trial".  The last
    55        document I would ask you to look at is the 5th March, 1994,
    56        which, again, is before you uttered anything on your side.
    57        The second page, the paragraph beginning "Steel and
    58        Morris"; do you see that?
    59        A.  I do.
    60

Prev Next Index