Post office prosecutor ‘asked witness to change testimony’

A POST OFFICE prosecutor has been accused of advising a witness to change their testimony in a trial that resulted in a pregnant postmistress wrongfully jailed.

Seema Misra spent four-and-a-half months in prison after faulty Horizon software incorrectly recorded a £70,000 shortfall at her West Byfleet branch. Her conviction was not overturned until 2021.

Yet documents seen by the BBC allegedly show a Post Office barrister advised a Fujitsu engineer to rephrase parts of a report used to testify against her in the 2010 case.

Draft versions of the report written by Gareth Jenkins, a former chief IT architect at the Japanese firm, appear to show how barrister Warwick Tatford advised him to take a stronger position on certain technical issues raised by an expert witness for Mrs Misra’s defence.

The Metropolitan Police are investigating Mr Jenkins for potential perjury.

In his initial draft, dated Oct 6 2010, Mr Jenkins reportedly wrote that he could not “10 per cent rule out” that ”screen calibration issues” may cause some problems.

During an earlier hearing of the public inquiry, it was agreed that Mr Jenkins meant to write “100 per cent”.

However, a note by Mr Tatford below this part of the statement read: “Please rephrase. This will be taken as a damaging concession.”

In the final written testimony, Mr Jenkins wrote “no scenario has been presented” that could explain losses because of poorly calibrated touch screens, according to the broadcaster.

The Telegraph understands that the different versions of the statement were first shown when Mr Tatford was questioned on them at the public inquiry in November last year.

Expert witnesses who produce reports for use in trials must be independent and unbiased, according to Criminal Procedural Rules, which set out how courts in England and Wales operate.