Ref: A00-300995 Case No. 871626 Macpherson II
Volume II, Pages 18-20, Friday 9th June, 1989
(In the presence of the jury)
JAKE LINDSEY CLENNELL: Sworn
Examined by Mrs. Jessell
Q. Are your full names Jake Lindsey Clennell? A. Yes.
Q. Would you give your address to the Court? A. (Inaudible)
London WC2
Q. You are going to be asked some questions about what happened
at the beginning of April 1987. What I would like to ask you
is this: did you make a statement at that time when the
events were very fresh in your mind? A. Yes, I did.
Q. Have you had an opportunity of refreshing your memory about
what happened by having a look at that statement this morning
at court? A. Yes, I have.
MRS. JESSELL: In that case I will tender this witness. (To the
witness): Would you wait there and answer any questions my
learned friend Mr. Beckman may ask you.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Ladies and gentlemen, that is a
perfectly ordinary way of dealing with the thing when there
is obviously no dispute about what the other two have had to
say. We have had it from them; if Mr. Beckman wants anything
in addition he can get it from this witness.
CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. BECKMAN
Q. My Lord, it is also putting a bit of flesh on it as well.
(To the witness): Mr. Clennell, we have heard from your
friends how you met Mr. Koupparis, which is basically a joke
about radon from computers in the window. Then there was a
cigarette, a taxi ride, chatting and after that you had
drinks with him and went to restaurants with him; that kind
of thing? A. Yes.
Q. So there is no doubt at all and it is not a one-off, you do
not have any difficulty at all in recognising Mr. Koupparis,
do you? A. None whatsoever.
Q. None at all; no attempt on his part to disguise himself?
A. No.
Q. We have been told by your colleagues as far as they were
concerned that the name Commander Nemo was a pretend name, in
fact was clearly a nickname. A. Yes.
Q. Clearly funny, or meant to be funny? A. Yes.
Q. You yourself knew, I take it, that it came from Jules Verne?
A. Yes.
Q. I believe also his rank changed from time to time, so
sometimes he was Commander Nemo, sometimes Captain Nemo?
A. I can't really remember.
Q. Usually Commander, I believe. A. Usually Nemo.
Q. In other words, the nickname became an affectionate
diminutive? A. A short version, if you want to call it
affectionate, Nemo.
Q. All right, leave affection out of it, became a diminutive.
There was a voice shifter, I think, that he used from time to
time. That enabled the voice, as it were, to change. Would
you tell us how that came about, how it was used? A. I
remember when we first met him, the first night we met him, I
think, the voice shifter made a noise like a dog. It was
demonstrated to us on one occasion, not on the telephone but
he spoke through it and it changed his voice.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: Is it a thing which would fit into a
telephone? A. I don't know, I can't remember.
MR. BECKMAN: It enabled you to have fun on the telephone, in
disguising your voice and having a joke? A. I don't know,
I never saw it used or heard it used on the telephone.
Q. At any rate, it certainly enabled you to pretend you were a
dog or pretend there was a dog barking on the end of the
line? A. I presume so from what I understand of it.
Q. Were you ever told - if you were say so - about a dog licking
envelopes? A. No, never told.
Q. We have been told about the pop group matter and that was
clearly a crazy idea, I am sorry to say. A. Yes.
Q. It did not take a great deal of intelligence to realise that?
A. No.
Q. One thing perhaps I can get from you also by the way, from
time to time he wore one leather glove, did he not? A. Yes.
Q. One of the others - again this may come down to a bit of
literature - one of the girls - I think it was the girl who
told us - let us see if you agree - that he said "Pan", with
the name Peter Pan? A. Yes.
Q. Did that make you think of Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook
and all the others that you read, or you may have done when
you were younger? A. Yes, when we asked him what his name
was once he did say "Peter Pan".
Q. Nobody had a little joke about Captain Hook and his one hand?
A. I can't remember.
(The witness withdrew)
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