Day 248 - 13 May 96 - Page 55


     
     1        to what those leaflets that have been distributed were
     2        saying, because, as we can see it, is a different leaflet,
     3        in different wording, in different headings.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think this is all argument in due course.
     6
     7   MR. RAMPTON:  What matters is what perceptions, because
     8        Mr. Preston is here, to give the reasons why his own press
     9        releases were distributed and what his motives were,
    10        whether good or bad.  What matters is what Mr. Preston
    11        perceived to be the intentions of the Defendants and their
    12        agents from reading their own material.  What the true
    13        facts were we will have to wait and see.  I am not disposed
    14        to attend Mr. Morris.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not -- I thought in the last few minutes
    17        we were looking into Mr. Preston's motives for putting out
    18        public material in the months up to the trial, long after
    19        the proceedings had been started, on the basis of the
    20        actual leaflet complained of.
    21
    22   MR. MORRIS:  Right.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is what Mr. Rampton, I think, is asking
    25        questions about in re-examination.
    26
    27   MS. STEEL:   When he talked about the leaflets available from
    28        Veggies and the 25,000 leaflets available and he said that
    29        he said something about this being some kind of a threat,
    30        the leaflets that are referred to in those documents are
    31        not the fact sheets which is the subject of the libel
    32        action.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you give evidence by all means canvass
    35        that in the evidence, or if you do not give evidence on
    36        that point then point me to the evidence which supports
    37        that.
    38
    39   MS. STEEL:   But I think the point is that when the Company is
    40        saying that one of the reasons for putting out this leaflet
    41        was because McLibel Support Campaign, Veggies, whoever, was
    42        distributing lies, he is referring to, he can only be
    43        referring to, the short leaflets because they are the only
    44        ones there is any evidence of distribution.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you want to put that to Mr. Rampton now,
    47        which leaflets did he think the McLibel Support Campaign
    48        literature was referring to.
    49
    50   MR. MORRIS:  Right.  Can I just have a... 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:   The leaflet.  When Mr. Rampton referred you to
    55        those documents, about 250,000 or 25,000 leaflets being
    56        available and leaflets being available from Veggies, and do
    57        you consider that those are lies, what leaflets did you
    58        think that those press releases were referring to?
    59        A.  I thought they were related to the leaflets in
    60        question.

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