Monday, 12th November, 2001

PROSECUTION OPENING SPEECH

MR LEWIS: Members of the jury, I, together with my learned friend, Caroline Paul, appear on behalf of the Crown in this matter, and my learned friends, Richard Ferguson and Trevor Burk, appear on behalf of the defendant, Peter Lawrence Buck, who is a world-renowned guitarist, (you may or may not know), and belongs to a group called REM, or R.E.M. He is charged with the offences which the clerk has related to you. I will pass you copies of that indictment, together with a diagram of the aircraft showing the seats which are relevant to this case, and also a final-warning notice. Perhaps if they can be passed, please. That is the indictment, that is the final warning, and that --- (same handed).

JUDGE CROCKER: (Note received by judge). Go on, Mr Lewis. When the ---

MR LEWIS: Yes, thank you.

JUDGE CROCKER: Show that to counsel, both sides. (Same handed) (Pause) Mr Ferguson, Mr Burk, you saw the note that I have just handed down. I wondered if, out of courtesy if nothing else, you would like me to adjourn just so that further enquiries can be made?

(The court to adjourned for a short time)

MR LEWIS: Members of the jury, I hope you now have a copy of the indictment - have you got that? Shall we have a look at that first of all? The first count is drunkenness on an aircraft. That really speaks for itself, members of the jury. Someone is drunk if he has consumed intoxicating liquor to the extent that he has lost the power of self-control. We all know when somebody is drunk or not - it is common sense usually. In any event, the Crown say that Mr Buck was drunk on this flight from Seattle to London Heathrow, and whilst he was indeed intoxicated he assaulted --- and an assault, members of the jury, is an act in which a person intentionally or recklessly applies unlawful force to the complainant, and the offence will have been committed, indeed, however slight that force.

There are two separate counts there: Mario Ageas, who is a longstanding employee of British Airways - he was the cabin services director - and Holly Ward, who was a stewardess working for BA, and after that assault, indeed, so furious was Mr Buck, in his (inaudible - voice distant), as it were, he then tipped over a trolley in the First Class cabin, sending crockery, cereals, milk and everything flying.

In rather a little longer than a nutshell, but in as much of a way as I can make it, Mr Buck, the Crown say, who is, as I have already said, a renowned pop icon, boards a flight from Seattle to Heathrow at, indeed, about 6:10 in the evening (6 o'clock or so) Seattle time, 2:00 am British time, accompanied by his entourage, and he settles in with - I think it may be his tour manager - Mr Whittaker, into the First Class cabin.

If you have a look at the blown-up version of the front of the aircraft - may we call that exhibit 1, please?

JUDGE CROCKER: Yes.

MR LEWIS: The large, blown-up version. He goes to sit with his tour manager in seats 4E and 4F. He is exhausted, he later told the policemen, from overwork, and felt that this trip was rather like going on holiday. So he orders, the Crown say, glass upon glass of red wine, which he consumes too rapidly, becoming drunk not that long after take-off. More and more wine is consumed, and his behaviour deteriorates to that of a drunkard. But when the time comes to switch off the tap (if I can put it colloquially), his mood changes, and he becomes more and more of a nuisance, he gets himself literally stuck between two seats from which position he had to be dislodged by the crew - almost comical. When issued with a yellow card - and that, members of the jury, I am going to --- before I do so, the one plan that you have - could you get that one, showing a sort of cigar-shape, the (inaudible)? Let us call that exhibit 2 so that, to some extent, follows on from the other one? The final-warning notice, you have got that, have you? Exhibit 3, please. That is what I was just about to refer to. When issued, as I say, with the yellow card - it is a final warning to behave himself really, not to drink any more alcohol - he simply tore it up in front of the crew and the captain, as I understand it.

After that, he kept on wandering in and out of the Club Class section, where two of the other members of his band were.

He refused to sit down; he thumped the wall of the plane in anger, he tried to sit next to a lady, whom he claimed was his wife, in Club Class. Told to desist, at this time he was holding a pot of yoghurt, and he was told to desist by the cabin services director, Mr Ageas, who is the complainant in count 2. And he filled his spoon - as I understand it, I think a metal spoon (we will hear) - with yoghurt and went towards the cabin services director. Of course, Mr Ageas, seeing this, made a grab for the spoon, and when he did that, the tub of yoghurt exploded all over them, covering the defendant and Mr Ageas, and, indeed, Holly. Holly is the complainant in count 3 (Holly Ward), who was a stewardess and who could see what was happening, and tried, in fact, to intervene and stop the defendant doing what she thought he was going to do.

The defendant, in fact, assaulted Mr Ageas then after this explosion by tightening his tie round his neck and grabbing Holly Ward's arm and yanking it back as she tried to stop the defendant from really attacking Mr Ageas.

From there, he walked back to the First Class compartment, and in his fury overturned a trolley full of breakfast crockery, sending it all, as I say, flying.

It was considered whether cuffs at this stage ought to be got so that they could be used, but it was felt more prudent that he be persuaded, or his friends be persuaded, to try and calm him down and to sit with his friend.

He behaved, the Crown, say - and, indeed, in his own words - like the transmogrification of Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde. He referred to his behaviour on hearing it as being likened to that of Jekyll; he probably meant Hyde. But clearly that turning and transformation may well have been triggered, he claimed, by being (a rather hackneyed phrase) sleepless in Seattle and drinking too quickly without any food.

After the event, he was, not unnaturally, mortified by his conduct. He was extremely apologetic and extremely embarrassed. He did not remember what he actually had done.

He now claims - and this is the defence - that he did not know what he was doing because he took a number of powerful sleeping pills with his wine. The Crown say to that he was paralytic from choice, and whether or not he took the pills makes no difference whatsoever to his culpability. It may be mitigation, but it is not, the Crown would suggest, a defence.

Just a little bit more detail. That, effectively, is quite a long nutshell, but he boarded the jumbo - and this, indeed, I think, was one of the original jumbos, an old craft, and I do not think they fly any more, but I hope that tomorrow we will have a photograph of one that has been kept in (inaudible) somewhere else and we will be able to see what exactly that First Class cabin looked like, and I hope pictures of the Club Class area. I do not promise it, because it may not happen tomorrow, but I hope that during the Crown's case you will have some photographs to assist you.

An eight-and-a-half-hour journey, he, as I say, boarded with Robert Whittaker, and they were allotted those seats, while the other two members of the crew were confined (inaudible) Business Class. It took off at 2:20 am, 6:20 pm Seattle time the day before, and that is why in the indictment we have the charges being laid as between the dates simply because this is an overnight flight and it spans two days.

It is right to say that identity is, to an extent, in issue, and therefore we will have to hear what the witnesses say as to whether it was Mr Buck, in fact, that was the person who was misbehaving. The Crown say that on hearing the evidence and the totality of it you will find as a fact that the person we are talking about was Mr Buck and not Mr Whittaker. But to that extent, therefore, when I am opening this case, I am saying that Mr Buck is the person who, for example, Mr Martin, who was the steward who looked after them both in First Class from the off, noticed and suggests that when he boarded, he seemed to have had a few drinks, which on the face of it, if that is right - and it would seem to be correct - as soon as they did board, they sat down, both Mr Buck and Mr Whittaker, and asked for some red wine, which the steward replenished in relation to Mr Buck - that is what the Crown say, and we will have to hear how he knows this is Mr Buck, or what - 15 times during the first three hours or so of the flight. So really from 2:20 am to 5:20 am, 15 refills.

Mr Buck - or the gentleman that the Crown say is Mr Buck - apparently remarked when asking for more: "Another glass, please - I'll collapse after this one."

The purser, Janice Hawkins, made a mental note of this gentleman, too, who I suggest is Mr Buck, but made, in fact, a mental note of both Mr Buck and Mr Whittaker before taking off, as they were downing wine pretty rapidly. Even though Mr Buck's glass was being replenished frequently by Mr Martin, that, it would appear, was not enough for Mr Buck, for 20 minutes into the flight the Crown say that he was seen to go into the galley for more, and a stewardess - a Miss Inetchi - noticed this gentleman was drunk, slurring his words, and unsteady on his feet, and his eyes were half-shut. Despite this state of obvious intoxication, she gave him a glass, and then went to see the purser; because she was concerned about his level of intoxication, she went to see a lady called Janice Hawkins.

Dinner was served after 40 minutes into the flight, and the purser noticed - that is Miss Hawkins now - that both Messrs Buck and Whittaker were continuing to drink red wine. Their tablecloth was by this stage a bit of a mess - it looked as though wine had been spilt on it - and although they were in high spirits at this early stage of the flight, they were indeed still polite and gentlemanly.