Given that Byrne is supposedly a top drawer QC, and given that this apparently long-winded and highly detailed opening address would seem to be a silly move (jury still awake there?) and he's going to have to put GBC up there to say it all again, I can't help wondering if this is a strategic ploy? Narrate the whole GBC story himself, as he thinks HE can be more convincing to the jury than GBC can? And of course, Byrne can't be cross-examined, so what he puts out there - is out there.
Apart from seeing it as a deliberate strategy, I can't for the life of me understand why he is doing this .....