Day 060 - 02 Dec 94 - Page 04
1 form of admissible evidence and it takes the form of
2 questions in relation to which it is permissible to put an
3 unidentified document in front of a witness and to say to
4 him, does he stick to what he has just said? It is not
5 permissible to brandish newspaper cuttings in court as
6 though they were admissible evidence and just to get them,
7 as Mr. Morris is fond of putting it, on the record.
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I am assuming for the moment that he has
10 taken that point on board and that he will follow the
11 routine method which we talked about several days ago. But
12 I will wait and see about that.
13
14 MS. STEEL: They were just going to be used just to ask some
15 questions, they are not to get on the record, but I wanted
16 to say something about this problem. Obviously, as you
17 have recognised, we do actually have big problems collating
18 all the material. We are getting things in day by day. A
19 lot of the time we do not have time to look at it until
20 that particular issue comes up the night before when we are
21 going to be cross-examining the witness on the next day.
22
23 We have tried to be co-operative. Just a couple of weeks
24 ago Mr. Rampton introduced a video for cross-examination of
25 Ms. Gallatley he said he had found the night before. We
26 could have stood on our rights and said, "I am sorry, we
27 want this adjourned until we have had time to get
28 instructions from Ms. Gallatley, for her to make enquiries
29 about who found out this, that and the other about the
30 film", but we did not. We are trying to be helpful, and
31 not make the court grind to a court. I think really it
32 would be helpful if Mr. Rampton took a more constructive
33 approach. If he wants to speak to a witness, that is fine,
34 but I feel that he is just creating a lot of fuss to create
35 problems for us to make it more difficult for us to present
36 our case and cross-examine the witnesses. I would like
37 that to be borne in mind.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think Mr. Rampton is spoiling.
40 I think he is seeking to make the point which, as far as I
41 am concerned, has been made about what the right approach
42 is. For myself, I do not see why you should not have some
43 latitude beyond what would be given, for instance, to a
44 member of the Bar, because it sounds as if what I thought
45 was happening is actually happening.
46
47 I think you have got to -- I am using this as an
48 opportunity to clear the air about it. If I might say so,
49 I do not want you to turn away anything which is very
50 useful so far as extra documentation is concerned. I think
51 you owe it to yourselves -- this is not a comment on
52 anything you produced in the past but for the future -- to
53 be discerning about really what will help and what is just
54 further information which is not going to get us very far.
55
56 You have to apply your own judgment to that. Everyone who
57 has been involved in advocacy knows they can keep getting
58 more and more information from those behind them and,
59 sooner or later, one has just got to say: "Stop, if I keep
60 trying to absorb all this extra stuff you are giving me,
