Day 291 - 31 Oct 96 - Page 05
1 apologise for their computer. It described pigs as sheep
2 on here." He also said about that document on page 46,
3 line 49: "I apologise for the computer at Milton Keynes,
4 also part of..." -- well, he was asked why the document
5 said sheep when it was supposed to be about pigs, and he
6 said: "I apologise for the computer at Milton Keynes, also
7 part of work so that it should be anonymous as well in
8 describing pigs as sheep also." We say that is just
9 completely ludicrous.
10
11 He says on page 47, line 30 that it was the Meat and
12 Livestock Commission that made the measurements. So it was
13 not him. He was asked to explain the document and he said
14 he was not an electrician but he was told and if he could
15 try and explain how it had been explained to him and he
16 went on ----
17
18 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which day are you on?
19
20 MS. STEEL: Sorry, this is all day 88. Sorry, I thought I said
21 that. It is quite clear that his entire evidence about
22 this document was based on hearsay, and bearing in mind the
23 fact that it was entitled "sheep" when it was supposed to
24 be about pigs, we say that it would be completely unsafe to
25 take any notice whatsoever of that document without it
26 having first been proved by the person who created it.
27 Therefore, the only evidence about the current in the case
28 is that from Dr. Gregory, who says that the current was
29 0.45 of an amp and who agreed that that was under the Codes
30 of Practice recommendations of 1.3 amps and therefore the
31 stun might not have been effective. (Pause)
32
33 I cannot remember whether I drew this to your attention
34 yesterday, but Dr. Gregory did say on day 20, page 71, line
35 6, that he was not able to be a hundred percent certain
36 that the pigs did not regain consciousness.
37
38 There was also reference during the evidence of
39 Dr. Gregory, and it is in his statement, I am not a hundred
40 percent sure where it is in the evidence, about the fact
41 that because of -- well, about shortcomings, about at one
42 stage 2 out of 13 pigs had fallen from the bleeding rail
43 and that they had to be shot using captive bolt guns, and
44 it had to be done rapidly to make sure the pig did not
45 regain consciousness. And he said it was thought that
46 maybe the pigs in question did regain consciousness.
47
48 He also went on to say that on account of the carcass
49 kicking in the bleeding area, blood sometimes entered the
50 stunning pen. He said some authorities would disapprove of
51 this from an animal welfare point of view, although he
52 personally did not share that opinion.
53
54 But we would say that they are all examples of shortcomings
55 at the Bowes plant. We think it should be borne in mind,
56 the point about what Dr. Gregory said about how the
57 procedure would slow down when people were making
58 inspections and people would take more care about what they
59 were doing. It is quite possible that if Dr. Gregory had
60 not been there, that they would have just carried on and
