Ref: A00-300995 Case No. 871626 Macpherson II
Volume II, Pages 21-26, Friday 9th June, 1989
(In the presence of the jury)
JAMES DESMOND PRENDERGAST: Sworn
Examined by Mr. Temple
Q. Is your name James Desmond Prendergast? A. Yes.
Q. Are you still chief security officer attached to the Inter
Continental Hotel? A. Yes.
Q. Where is the hotel? A. No. 1, Hamilton Place, W1.
Q. Before we begin, I am going to ask that you have in front of
you the originals of our Exhibits 30 to 34 and I am going to
ask that the jury have delivered to them a copy of a new
Exhibit 147. (Handed to the witness and the jury)
Mr. Prendergast, do you have in front of you, by way of
introduction to your evidence, our Exhibit 147, which is a
computer print-out headed "Guest history"? A. Yes.
Q. That is a single sheet? A. Yes.
Q. Taking matters shortly, what is the origin of this particular
document? Where does it come from? A. This has come from
the hotel computer.
Q. The information contained on it, who actually programmes it
or puts it into the computer? A. That would be done by the
reception clerk.
Q. Would the reception clerk in the first instance be given
the information by a guest? A. Yes.
Q. With regard to this particular document, first of all what
was the guest's name? A. Are you referring me to Exhibit
JDP/3?
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: It is JDP/100. A. Yes, I have it.
The name on this print-out is Mr. SA Miller.
MR. TEMPLE: And the address which he gave? A. PO Box 4437,
Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Q. Reading across, we can see "Country 1GB, 2ES, specials".
A. The "Country 1GB", that indicates that the person who
gave the name of SA Miller stated their nationality was
British. "FS" is of no significance, it is merely there to
fill in a space on the computer and "Specials" indicates that
the person was a walk-in. In other words, they came to the
hotel without a reservation.
Q. Then just following through, on the next line "Credit, CR
card". A. That is there to indicate the person Miller had
a credit card. Details of the credit card would follow that
entry.
Q. But in fact none follows. A. No, it is blank.
Q. Then "AR". A. That is an accounting code which is blank
because again it had no significance to this person.
Q. "Passport number" followed by the number in question. Would
that be the passport number given by the guest? A. Yes.
Q. All I need now do, I think, is take you through the final
section of this document. Do you see "Initial visit"?
A. Yes.
Q. What does that tell you? A. That gives you the date of
this visit, which is recorded as 26th March 1987.
Q. I think perhaps the rest is self-explanatory. A. Yes, it
is one visit that was for two nights and the total revenue
from this was £419.
Q. That is all I want to ask you about the initial visit on
26th March. Members of the jury, I am now moving across to
page 260 of our exhibit bundle. (To the witness):
Mr. Prendergast, would you have in front of you, please,
Exhibit 30, JDP/1. A. Yes.
Q. Is that a registration card referring to the Inter
Continental Hotel, covering what period, please? A. That
covers 11th April to 14th April 1987.
Q. Looking at our copy, members of the jury, do you see the card
which starts about half way down our page 260? (To the
witness): Mr. Prendergast, our copies are difficult to
read; what does "Departure date" read? A. "Departure date"
reads "14th April 1987".
Q. You were telling us the visit ran from the 11th? A. Yes.
Q. Where do we find that? A. That is the entry immediately to
the left of the departure date.
Q. In fact it is almost indecipherable, and the guest's name?
A. Mr. and Mrs. P. Koupparis and child.
Q. Looking at the registration details, what was given?
A. The name of the family. The name is given as Koupparis;
the first name is given as Panos and the address is No. 10
Crystal House, Rockmount Estate, Plumstead in the United
Kingdom, and the nationality is given as British.
Q. On this occasion there was no passport number put in on the
registration card? A. No.
Q. Can I now ask you to deal with the second registration card -
members of the jury, this is our page 261 - your Exhibit
JDP/2. What period of time does this cover? A. This
covers 20th April through to 22nd April.
Q. Again the family name is Koupparis? A. Yes.
Q. The same address has been given, 10 Crystal House,
Rockmount Estate, Plumstead? A. Yes.
Q. I just want to ask you this: on the system used at the hotel
on that second visit when these details were given, would the
card referring to the first visit be available to the guest?
A. No.
Q. I want to deal with the account, your Exhibit JDP/3, page
262. Is that referring to telephone calls made between 11th
and 12th April by the guest in question, namely
Mr. Koupparis? A. Well, to be strictly accurate, from the
room that was occupied. I can't say who made the calls.
Q. You are quite right to correct me; from the room. I am not
going to trouble you with the details. Your Exhibit JDP/4,
page 265. Is this a statement of account in respect of that
first visit at which we looked, 11th to 14th? A. Yes,
although in actual fact it does extend through to 17th April.
Q. Members of the jury, all I am going to do is look at the
total amount for which the visit was billed, page 267. In
other words, the exhibit carries on to 267. (To the witness):
What was the total bill? A. The total amount, inclusive of
Value Added Tax, was £1,635.80.
Q. We can see that on page 267, it is the fifth line up from the
bottom of the bill, the total amount. (To the witness):
Just so there is no mystery, does it come to this: on the
face of the account the original visit was booked between the
11th and 14th and the hotel facilities were extended until
the 17th? A. Yes.
Q. I would like you to deal with the final bill, our page 268.
The total cost of this second visit? A. The total cost was
£276.65.
CROSS-EXAMINED BY MR. BECKMAN
Q. Mr. Prendergast, if we go back to talk about costing and go
back to the paper print-out, the separate document, I take it
if one is looking at that and looking at the initial visit,
it would be quite wrong to suggest that in fact the cost was
£260,387? A. Yes.
Q. That is looking at the first line beside "Initial visit".
Mr. Prendergast, would this be right: one of the things you
have to do is find out what is going on generally, is it not,
part of your job? A. Yes.
Q. Would it be right to say that so far as he was concerned
when he was there, the impression was the man was perhaps on
drink or drugs? A. Not really, not the impression I
gained. I saw him on several occasions whilst he stayed in
the hotel and I didn't form that impression.
Q. You have in fact been interviewed, apart from by the police,
by solicitors some time ago? A. Yes.
MR. JUSTICE MACPHERSON: "By a solicitor", did you say?
MR. BECKMAN: Yes, a solicitor. (To the witness): Did you not
inform them you got the impression he might have been on
drink or drugs? A. My recollection is I said I thought he
was a trifle eccentric, like someone who ---
Q. They might have got it wrong? A. I think perhaps, yes.
Q. At any rate, in other words, the way you put it was he was a
trifle on the eccentric side? A. A bit flamboyant perhaps.
Q. A bit flamboyant, a trifle on the eccentric side. In the
same way a person could be if on drink and drugs, not that
you said he was on drink and drugs; is that a fair way of
putting it? A. Yes, I think so.
Q. Also that it was considered he was perhaps a bit on the weird
side? A. Yes.
Q. That is a fair comment? A. Yes, I think so.
Q. Indeed, because of his behaviour, was not one description
atached [sic] to him as "that nutty guy"? A. Not in my hearing.
I never heard him referred to. I don't recall that. It may
have been, but I don't recall it.
Q. Do you remember a discussion wth [sic] Carol Williams at Hertz
Rent-a-car? It goes back a long time. A. I can't remember.
I do remember Carol Williams but I don't remember discussing
this in any detail with her. That is not to say I didn't.
As you say, it is a long time ago.
MR. BECKMAN: Mr. Prendergast, it would be unfair to push you
further; therefore I will not.
(The witness withdrew)
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