Day 043 - 01 Nov 94 - Page 02
1 Tuesday, 1st November, 1994.
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, before we continue this morning, I wonder
4 if I might raise a question about the desirability of
5 Mr. Hawkes continuing his evidence at the moment? There
6 are administrative problems, one of which is that
7 Mr. Hawkes has an important meeting at 12 o'clock today,
8 which he would rather not miss. The other is that I do not
9 want to run any risk at all that Mr. Green, who has been
10 here since the weekend, should not finish his evidence this
11 week. He is in court now and ready to give evidence.
12
13 The other question is one more of substance. Having looked
14 at those documents which were handed to us at four o'clock
15 yesterday evening in court, I find that they contain a good
16 deal that is plainly inadmissible: expressions of opinion
17 by this person or that. More importantly, they have a
18 factual background which I should wish to have the
19 opportunity to investigate, if necessary, as I would have
20 done if they had been served at the proper time, and to ask
21 Mr. Hawkes in evidence-in-chief, as a consequence of those
22 factual investigations.
23
24 That being so, my suggestion is that the convenient
25 course -- of course it is a matter for your Lordship --
26 would be to release Mr. Hawkes for the time being, to come
27 back as soon as possible at a convenient moment, and to
28 start clean with Mr. Green this morning.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. What time does Mr. Hawkes have to leave
31 for his meeting? It is a 12 o'clock meeting, is it?
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: (To the witness) It is where?
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: A not very long taxi ride away; is that
36 right? Where have you got to go to, Mr. Hawkes?
37
38 THE WITNESS: It is St. James's Square.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We could probably go on till about quarter
41 past 11, then, could we not?
42
43 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, my Lord, but I would not assent to
44 cross-examination on the basis of those documents at the
45 moment, because Mr. Hawkes is in no position to deal with
46 them presently; he has not had that opportunity.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: On the subject of the documents, virtually every
49 witness that I can think of in this case, they have been
50 served documents at the last minute, on both sides, either
51 the day before or the morning. Mr. Rampton just seems to
52 be upping the stakes every time to put pressure on us,
53 without the massive back-up which he has, to achieve the
54 impossible. We were asked to serve them last night. The
55 witness has seen them, and the documents that are relevant
56 to Mr. Green that have not yet been served -- I have got
57 copies here for the court -- because he was due to start
58 tomorrow. As far as I know, Mr. Hawkes was given the
59 documents last night.
60
