Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 4

 
 

                                                                  Day 236
 
 
 
 
 
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, thank you.  There are a number of
     3        matters I want to deal with before we consider the question
     4        of what evidence next.  But, did you have something you
     5        particularly wanted to say first of all?
     6
     7   MR. RAMPTON:  No.  I only want to say that I owe your Lordship
     8        an apology on account of the absence of Mr. Monroe.  We are
     9        as sorry as anybody else that he is not here.  We do not
    10        unfortunately control him.  He is not a McDonald's person
    11        and he does not even do business with McDonald's any more.
    12        So there is no way in which we can put any pressure on
    13        him.  We have tried to confirm that he would come here
    14        today.  In fact, we hoped he would be in London on Monday,
    15        but he was not.  We even used the services of Mr. Arturo
    16        Woolf to try and get him here, but I am afraid without
    17        success.  Actually, I am sorry, to track him down, but he
    18        could not be found.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Have you actually decided what you want to
    21        do?
    22
    23   MR. RAMPTON:  No.  If I may, I will leave that on one side for
    24        the moment.  I am perfectly well conscious that the case is
    25        coming to an end, the evidence is coming to an end, and
    26        there will come a point where your Lordship will say:
    27         "Well, you cannot call him."  I would like to try and
    28        pursue it for the moment but if, within a short period of
    29        time it becomes apparent I am not going to be able to call
    30        him, then I think he has already got a Civil Evidence Act
    31        Notice on him.  I shall have to use that.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  He was originally a Civil Evidence Act
    34        witness.
    35
    36   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, he was.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The point which occurs to me is that his
    39        statement, and that is the only matter you are going to
    40        call him on, really relates to the Jungle Burger film.  It
    41        does not relate to more general aspects in relation to
    42        Costa Rica.
    43
    44   MR. RAMPTON:  No, it does not.  I am not at all sure that if he
    45        had been here and I found out some further information on,
    46        let us say Monday, I would have tendered him for that
    47        purpose because it would have been a bit late.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I might not be very keen.
    50 
    51   MR. RAMPTON:  You might not have been pleased. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  I will say two things:  First of all,
    54        I am sure you will, but I would like you to consider
    55        whether the matter is not best dealt with by returning him
    56        to the status of a Civil Evidence Act witness and,
    57        secondly, I think a decision must be made very promptly, in
    58        one of the copy letters which Mr. Morris kindly faxed to
    59        me.  He says that he does not want to make a final decision
    60        in relation to Mr. Heller or Herr Pater, in so far as
 
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