Day 236 - 17 04 96 - Page 33
Day 236
1 identified?
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: So far as I know they are, but I know that they
4 are for the 16th October 1989.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There are others.
7
8 MR. RAMPTON: There are others after that for later dates. My
9 belief is if they exist, they have been found. What
10 I cannot say for certain is that all the documents in the
11 counterclaim files, for example, whose relevance to
12 Mr. Carroll's evidence, frankly, baffles me at the moment.
13 I cannot say those have all been found and put in order.
14
15 What happened is that they were in originally a
16 chronological format. They were then disassembled in order
17 to make up different bundles and they have not been
18 reassembled in their chronological order. They all exist.
19 It is not that they have been lost or anything. That is
20 the problem with finding the originals of the words
21 complained of for the 16th October 1989, apart from ones
22 which Mrs. Brinley-Codd has found in court, but they are
23 all there, so far as I am aware.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes thank you.
26
27 RULING.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The situation is that unexpectedly the
30 evidence which was projected for this week starting this
31 morning and, if necessary, carrying on tomorrow and Friday
32 of this week, is not available. Mr. Rampton, for the
33 Plaintiffs, wishes to call Mr. Carroll, who is the second
34 Plaintiff's security manager, and/or Mr. Nicholson who, at
35 one time, held that position before going on to higher,
36 even, ranks with the second Plaintiff. The Defendants
37 object to either witness being called. Generally speaking,
38 it is for the parties to decide when the witness will be
39 called and the question I have to ask myself is whether
40 I should say to Mr. Rampton: "No, you will not call one or
41 either of those witnesses."
42
43 The question I have to ask myself is that if any of the
44 witnesses would be called, would the Defendants or either
45 of them be prejudiced in either way. If I deal with Mr.
46 Nicholson first. His evidence may be very much related to
47 the amendments which I have given leave to all the parties
48 to make their pleadings. I am not deciding whether the
49 Defendants would be unfairly prejudiced if he is called
50 this week. All I will say is that I would much rather that
51 he were not. I can see that cross-examination of him might
52 well, and justly go, beyond what he himself observes so far
53 as the participation by the Defendants in the publication
54 of the leaflet complained of is concerned.
55
56 Mr. Carroll seems to me to be in a very different
57 situation. His two statements served deal with his
58 observations of demonstrations outside or near the second
59 Plaintiffs' Headquarters, in East Finchley, on about half a
60 dozen occasions, starting with 16th October, 1989. His
33


