It emerged that a box containing “a tonne of stuff”, including
probably “five years’ worth” of Blackberries, perhaps as many as
18, belonging to him, his wife Linda, and sons Lewis and Nicolas, went
missing during the move, which took place from March to July this year.
Mr Paul Downes QC, representing di Resta, asked Hamilton about the contents of
the missing equipment.
“One of those Blackberries contained very important electronic files,
didn’t it?” he asked. “Probably two,” Hamilton responded.
“You knew they would be highly controversial in these proceedings, didn’t
you?” Mr Downes continued. “Correct,” Hamilton said.
“You knew it was important to preserve all electronic records relating to
this case?” Mr Downes asked. “Correct,” Hamilton repeated.
Hamilton told the court that he only realised the box was missing in September
of this year and informed his local police station but did not report a
crime or make an insurance claim as he could “not guarantee whether the
box had been stolen or thrown away.”
Mr Downes asked whether Hamilton had any evidence of his contact with the
police, to which Hamilton said he had email correspondence. Mr Downes asked
why that email had not been disclosed in evidence.
In heated exchanges that frequently had Hamilton’s QC Mr Charles Hollander QC
rising in protest, Mr Downes asked Hamilton, a former IT consultant, about
the searches he had carried out on his computers for evidence and why he had
been unable to find much that was pertinent to the trial.
Mrs Justice Asplin, the judge, had to ask the two barristers to “stop
bickering” and “to adopt a more respectful tone”.
The dispute between Hamilton and di Resta, whose father Louis and girlfriend
Laura Jordan are with him in court, centres on a deal with the energy drinks
company Go Fast, which never came to fruition.
It also involves bank accounts based in Grenada and London linked to
Hamilton’s father Davidson. Davidson Hamilton is now in his 80s and the
court heard that, for an unspecified reason, he was “incapable” of
running his own affairs. Hamilton said that he had infrequent contact with
his father. “I try to call him as little as possible,” he said.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh was first to give evidence in the
morning, recalling his part in di Resta’s graduation from DTM to Formula
One.
The case continues.