Patrick Barkham in Sydney and Owen Bowcott
Wednesday August 30, 2000
The Guardian
A huge cod caught off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef revealed a grisly secret after it was landed in Queensland at the weekend.
Weighing more than 44kg (97lb) and measuring 5ft 9ins long, the fish – a flowery cod with distinctive blotchy skin – was triumphantly lowered by trawlermen into the ship’s hold.
The trawler docked in Cairns and the cod was delivered to the Fine Kettle O’ Fish filleting factory. But when staff cut open its stomach yesterday a man’s head rolled out.
A co-owner of the factory, Peter Monson, said the head was whole and not badly disfigured. “There was disbelief. You would never dream of it,” he said.
Detective Sergeant David Miles of Cairns police added: “The fish was fairly big and the head appeared to be fairly much intact inside it.”
Police removed the fish and the grisly find for forensic examination. They suspect that the head may be that of a local fisherman, Michael Edwards, 39, who disappeared on Sunday after falling from his trawler east of Slashers Reef.
Trawlermen were puzzled about how the head could have found its way into the fish’s stomach so quickly. Flowery cod, also known as morgan cod, normally suck in their prey and do not have sharp teeth.
Cod are voracious migratory fish which normally feed on other fish and invertebrates. The flowery cod is often described as a shy fish, preferring coral reefs close to shore, but frequently descending to well below 30 meters (100ft). It is found in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and off Australia’s Pacific coast.
The Fishing Cairns’ website describes the variety of cod species on offer to visiting anglers: “Humans find a great deal of affection for these seemingly gentle giants, with the game boat skippers and dive boat operators making an event of hand feeding their ‘pet’ while on charter. The fishes’ huge mouths will engulf substantial offerings.”
Top QC bows out
Libel legend: George Carman, the master of courtroom
cross-examination, retires
Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Wednesday August 30, 2000
The Guardian
The legal world was stunned yesterday when Britain’s most famous lawyer, George Carman QC, announced that he was retiring to undergo medical treatment for an unspecified “little local difficulty”.
Mr Carman caused consternation when he pulled out of all the cases he was booked to appear in, including the big libel setpiece of the forthcoming legal session. With another silk, James Price, he was due to represent the Sunday Times at eh retrial of former Irish president Albert Reynolds’ libel action, scheduled to start in just over a month.
The announcement shocked solicitors who regularly briefed the 70-year-old QC, who was insisting only a few months ago that he would never retire. They said nobody else at the libel bar had his skill in cross-examination.
Mr Carman said: “It’s all very sad but these things happen and you face them with such fortitude as you can command.” He planned to write a book about his experiences.
Mr Carman, longtime smoker, refused to give details of his illness.
He was a successful but largely unknown QC when his defence of the former Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe, on charges of conspiracy to kill and incitement to murder brought him into the limelight. He became a sought-after criminal silk, defending the Coronation Street actor Peter Adamson on indecency charges, the comedian Ken Dodd for alleged tax evasion, the paediatrician Leonard Arthur for attempted murder in agreeing with parents’ wishes to allow a Down’s syndrome baby to die, and the actress Maria Aitken on drug importation charges.
In the 1990s his mastery of cross-examination, honed in the criminal courts, made him the advocate of choice for libel cases. A leading QC, Anthony Scrivener, described him as “simply the best cross-examiner in the business”.
Jani Allan, the South African journalist who sued the People over an article suggesting she had had an affair with the no-Nazi leader Eugene Terre Blanche, told him from the witness box: “Whatever the award for libel, being cross-examined by you would not make it enough money.”
Mr Carman summed up his role in a libel case: “You have the privilege and the responsibility of pulling the curtain back a little on the private and personal lives of people in the public eye. You learn that we are all mortal, we all have personal problems, personal strengths and weaknesses.”
He had a string of successes representing the media against celebrities including Gillian Taylforth, the East Enders actress who sued over allegations that she had oral sex with her boy-friend in a layby.
He enjoyed his last high-profile victory last December, defending the Harrods owner Mohamed al Fayed in a libel action brought by the former Tory MP Neil Hamilton, over allegations that he took cash for parliamentary questions.
Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, said Mr Carman had “destroyed” Mr Hamilton in the witness box. “Instead of playing to the other lawyers or the judge, he played straight to the jury. What he was brilliant at was making the case accessible to the jury.” Last year he represented the Guardian in the ill-fated lawsuit by Jonathan Aitken which led to the former Tory minister’s jailing for perjury and perverting the course of justice. The editor, Alan Rusbridger, said: “George Carman was every editor’s dream barrister, quick-witted, down to earth, funny and fearless.
“Being cross-examined by George was like facing Courtney Walsh on an uneven pitch in fading light. It was not a comfortable experience. He will be badly missed.”