Mr. Noel Merrick:

The main recommendations were that the board be informed of the situation and that advice be given on how it might deal with the issue. However, this was before Dr. Richard Thorn was appointed as an investigator. When that step was taken, the general advice was that at that stage the board could not set up its own investigation and that the important thing was to let Dr. Thorn get on with it. The initial advice had been that the board be informed and that the best way forward was to set up a sub-committee of the board to investigate on behalf of the board.