In cross-examination he said that Mr. Park did not seem to be trying to get rid of them. That they had taken the initiative in leaving, because they thought that was best. They did not want to disturb the children at home.
Following that evidence, Mr. Webster put to Mr. Park that he would surely have been extremely worried if she had left home without the basic womens' equipment of handbag and purse and therefore without money. Mr. Park's response was that she was capable of looking after herself. She could not farm, but she could attract other men. He presumed rightly or wrongly that she had gone off with another man.
I now turn to the evidence of Mr. and Mrs. Young. You remember the lady and gentlemen from Scotland, who saw something on Coniston. John Young, Mr. Young's first name, and it is Joan Young, the wife. Mrs. Young remembered the hot Summers in the mid 1970's, and particularly the Summer of 1976. They went on holiday in the Lake District in that year. They travelled there in the second week of the Glasgow Fair, she said. The Fair she thought began on about the 17th. She thought they had arrived on or about the 25th of July, and stayed for five or six days in Keswick. They were regular visitors to the Lake District at that time and usually stayed in Keswick. They could not stay at their usual guesthouse because of demand for accommodation. There was some religious convention going on she said, which had taken up the accommodation. She said that she thought the incident she was to describe for us happened towards the end of their stay, so towards the end of July. She was confident about the year, because Mr. Young had injured his leg and was on crutches. It was also the holiday on which he proposed marriage to her. I think we all had some amusement when Mr. Young did not recall any such matter in the holiday. I remember looking at your faces when he gave that evidence.