Day 064 - 08 Dec 94 - Page 17

     
     1        have a chance to look at it in advance as any other witness
     2        would.
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There is no harm in me actually looking at
     5        the
     6        statement, is there?
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  No, none at all, my Lord.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will ask Mr. Morris.  Which is the part you
    11        wanted to put, Mr. Morris, and I will look at it.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:  The whole statement is relevant.  It is three pages
    14        and there are two themes.  It is the hygiene within the
    15        plants and whether it conforms to the EC standards, and the
    16        export of the beef from that plant.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are having an expert from McKey, are we?
    19
    20   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, we are not having an expert.  We are
         having Mr. David Walker who owns McKey.  He will be giving
    22        evidence and, in the light of this statement, it may be we
    23        will have to call somebody from the abattoir itself but
    24        that is in the future.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I suggest you do, if you are anxious to
    27        put it to a McDonald's witness, is -- it is far better to
    28        put it to someone from McKey -- you could put a question in
    29        this way -- I think you should summarise it rather
    30        than every detail -- what you could do is ask Mr. Oakley to
    31        look at the statement to read the second page with the
    32        blobs against it and say:  If that were the case, if the
    33        matters put there were the case, then you can ask him what
    34        it is you want to ask him about it.  I suggest you do that
    35        now and reserve your real cross-examination for McKey
    36        Foods.
    37
    38   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, I was not going to go into great depth.
    39
    40   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I would not at this stage wish it read
         out.  The first question to a witness of this kind when he
    42        has looked at an inadmissible document of this kind is to
    43        ask him whether, in fact, he knows anything about it.  If,
    44        as a matter of fact, he knows nothing of this -----
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Maybe that is right but put that question
    47        first.
    48
    49   MR. RAMPTON:  He has not got a copy.
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Then you can go on in any event to the 
    52        question I suggested.  (Handed) 
    53
    54   MR. MORRIS:  Mr. Rampton always helpfully intervenes to inform
    55        the witness that if he knows nothing about something to say
    56        so.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  I see no harm in that.  It is quite
    59        apparent that he may very well know nothing about it.
    60