Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 67
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do think that is a consideration, but if
2 you look at it in this light: There is some benefit in it,
3 quite apart from any extra use we may put that three days
4 for, whether it is getting another witness in or disposing
5 of any procedural arguments which have not been disposed
6 of, you do have the advantage of, we can say, Mr. Stein's
7 evidence-in-chief to finish that week. If there is a bit
8 of time left on the Friday you can start cross-examining if
9 you wish; otherwise you have the weekend before you start.
10 You have then got five straight days which, even on a four
11 to eight day estimate, will mean you will get well through
12 your cross-examination; you will have prepared it all; you
13 will have notes for it which you can come back to towards
14 the end of July.
15
16 MS. STEEL: I do not know if it is simple for someone who is
17 trained in law and has a kind of legalistic mind, but we
18 find it quite hard to come back to things after three
19 weeks' time to remember what has been said.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where do we go after Friday 30th,
22 Mr. Rampton?
23
24 MR. RAMPTON: We have not got anything at the moment.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is the difficulty with Mr. Stein?
27
28 MR. RAMPTON: He has got business commitments, that is all.
29 I say "that is all". He would prefer to start on the 22nd
30 and, to be quite honest, my Lord, though I hear what
31 Ms. Steel says, I am not heavily impressed by it. One of
32 the points of providing daily transcripts of the trial is
33 so that people can know what the witness has said.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I agree with that, except daily transcripts
36 are an enormous amount of work. A lot of people may or may
37 not use their daily transcripts every evening.
38
39 MR. RAMPTON: I am sorry. Perhaps I am not making myself
40 clear. I am not suggesting -- one does not get them in the
41 evening so one cannot -- that is one advantage of splitting
42 Mr. Stein if we have to, and I repeat I sincerely hope it
43 is not necessary. The great advantage from the defendants'
44 point of view, as they have with Mr. Beavers and will have
45 with Mr. Preston, is that they will have a complete record
46 of his evidence-in-chief and five days of cross-examination
47 before they come back to him one, two, three weeks later.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which is the more difficult from Mr. Stein's
50 point of view? Starting before the 22nd or carrying on
51 after the 30th, if it is necessary?
52
53 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do not know about that last question
54 because I have not asked him, but I will ask him about that
55 and I will come back to it. That I do not know. I was
56 simply told that it was very difficult for him to be in a
57 position to give evidence before the 22nd and that he had
58 the whole of the week of the 26th, as I have earlier
59 indicated, and that he had the week of the 24th if it was
60 needed.
