Problems known five years before cases halted
Internal emails show the Post Office lawyers discussed Horizon issues as far back as 2010 ‘There was a persistent sentiment that the system was fit for purpose’
‘It was either arrogance or ignorance in there, and I think it was both sometimes’
THE POST Office chose not to investigate issues with its Horizon software five years before the witch-hunt ended over fears it would undermine prosecutions, documents reveal.
More than 700 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted by the organisation for false accounting, theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015. However, internal emails show Post Office lawyers talked about investigating issues with the Horizon software as far back as 2010, but did not take action over fears it would undermine prosecutions. It was eventually found that the software which flagged shortfalls was faulty.
The organisation’s head of criminal law stressed to colleagues the “consequences” of such a move would include pausing current and future prosecutions – an action which would attract “adverse publicity”.
Months later, an internal review commissioned by the Post Office stated that it was important to be “crystal clear” that any investigation launched into Horizon would “need to be disclosed in court”. However, the Post Office did not divulge this information and continued to prosecute sub-postmasters and sub-postmistress – including a sub-postmaster who was sentenced to 15 months in prison while pregnant.
Politicians branded the latest revelations as “dreadful” and accused the Post Office of “blocking justice”.
Meanwhile, Alan Bates, the campaigner whose fight for justice was depicted in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs
The Post Office, said he had “no doubt” that the organisation knew what state Horizon was in “for many years”.
Emails disclosed to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry reveal how Rob Wilson, who joined the Post Office as head of criminal law in 2002, responded to “difficulties” regarding the Horizon system. Mr Wilson wrote the email after not being invited to a conference call with colleagues about Horizon.
Responding to a memo from another colleague which suggested several actions which included “conducting full investigations into integrity issues”, Mr Wilson wrote on March 3, 2010: “If it is thought that there is a difficulty with Horizon then clearly the action set out in your memo is not only needed but is imperative.
“The consequence however will be that to commence or continue to proceed with any criminal proceedings will be inappropriate.”
Mr Wilson went on to say that “inevitably” defence solicitors for accused sub-postmasters would argue that any ongoing investigation would show the Post Office did “not have confidence” in Horizon and that to continue to prosecute would be “an abuse of the criminal process”.
He suggested that proceedings for prosecutions could be paused pending an outcome, but added: “If this were to be adopted the resultant adverse publicity could lead to massive difficulties for POL [Post Office Limited] as it would be seen by the press and media to vindicate the current challenges.”
Covert recordings allegedly show that the Post Office knew about problems with Horizon at least two years before chief executive Paula Vennells denied there were any issues.
The content of the tapes, shared with
The Times, show that in 2013 the Post Office’s company secretary prepared a brief for Ms Vennells saying it was possible to access Horizon accounts remotely without postmasters knowing, the paper reports.
This is at odds with the Post Office’s position that there had been no miscarriage of justice. It is thought a jury would not have been able to return a guilty verdict if they had known that accounts could be altered remotely.
In 2015 Ms Vennells wrote in an email that she needed to be able to say that remote access was not possible, before telling MPS at a business select committee that there was “no evidence” of miscarriages of justice.
Mr Wilson’s email was sent five months before Seema Misra, a pregnant sub-postmaster, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after a false shortfall of £74,000 was recorded at her branch in West Byfleet, Surrey.
She later said: “It’s hard to say but I think that if I had not been pregnant, I would have killed myself.”
Her conviction was cleared at the Court of Appeal in 2021.
Questioning Mr Wilson, Jason Beer KC, the lead counsel to the inquiry, said: “What you are saying by this email is, ‘The Post Office will be in serious trouble if we get on with an independent investigation into the integrity of Horizon’.”
Mr Wilson responded: “Well, not necessarily. It depends what the independent report was going to say,” adding, “I think that I overreacted to being excluded from what I saw as being critical to me as the head of the criminal law team.”
When contacted by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Bates said: “In my mind there’s no doubt that they’ve always known what state [Horizon] has been in. They’ve known for many, many years. I have no doubt on that.”
He added: “I’m not surprised in the slightest. As I’ve always said, it was either arrogance or ignorance in there, and I think it was both sometimes.”
Meanwhile, Dave Pardoe, then the company’s senior security manager, told the inquiry it was clear the impact on prosecutions was a concern. He said: “There was a persistent sentiment that the system was fit for purpose.”