Day 247 - 10 May 96 - Page 17


     
     1        A.  Mr. Morris, I think anything and everything about this
     2        most unfortunate incident, tragic incident, was made public
     3        in a hearing in a Coroner's Court I believe in Manchester.
     4
     5   Q.   Jill Barnes said that the inquest was not shown McDonald's
     6        own investigation?
     7        A.  Well, I do not know what Miss Barnes said, I was not
     8        here for that.
     9
    10   Q.   You were at the inquest, were you not?
    11        A.  No, I was not.
    12
    13   Q.   I am sorry, you have her word for it.  Do you know why, if
    14        it be the case, it was not shown to the inquest why it was
    15        not shown to the inquest?
    16        A.  I cannot imagine other than possibly the people holding
    17        the inquest thought they would rather have their own
    18        reports done by independent people.
    19
    20   Q.   The reason it was not made public and not shown to the
    21        inquest was because it was extremely critical of your
    22        company.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know how many inquests you would
    25        have attended.  That is just not the way the Coroner's
    26        Officer works.
    27
    28        (To the witness):  Do you know whether the Coroner's
    29        Officer asked your company for copies of any internal
    30        report it had made?
    31        A.  I do not know, your Lordship.  I would be surprised if
    32        they did not ask for records of one kind or another, but
    33        I do not know myself.
    34
    35   Q.   I am afraid, Mr. Morris, I think you misunderstand the
    36        Coroner's Court procedure.  I will give you an example in a
    37        slightly different context:  If someone dies in a hospital
    38        in circumstances where it may be thought that somewhere in
    39        the hospital is to fault, the Coroner's Officer will go and
    40        take statements from people in the hospital, but I do not
    41        think there is any obligation on the Health Authority to
    42        disclose copies of reports of its own internal
    43        investigations, nor would I expect the Coroner's Officer to
    44        ask for them unless he thought that he was failing to put
    45        enough statements before the Coroner for the Coroner to
    46        decide the cause of death.
    47
    48        I see nothing sinister in a private company, a public
    49        company, a health authority, an institution making its own
    50        inquiries for its own purposes but not delivering a copy of 
    51        the report to the Coroner's Officer. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  It is a matter of interpretation.  I would see
    54        everything sinister about the fact that an individual was
    55        blamed for the death of his colleague while the Company's
    56        own internal investigation was kept from being revealed or
    57        even the fact that it had been done was kept ----
    58
    59   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I just cannot accept that.
    60

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