Post Office - Horizon scandal

[Pants]

Many thanks Brian for your input and insight. It's been quite a revelation.

 

[AussieKB]

Watched the first 30 minutes, very hard to believe that this could happen and is still happening,
think a lot of people at the top should be in jail.

 

[Hobbit]

Ministry of Justice reveals a further 48 individuals, with Horizon convictions, have come forward seeking exoneration and compensation.

Also, the Horizon Help Fund charity continues to help ex-SubPostmasters who are struggling financially…

 

[Hobbit]

The Post Office’s annual accounts were released yesterday, Thursday 19th Dec. A Couple of numbers to contemplate;

1. To date there are 5,891 claimants of the Horizon shortfall scheme. That number seems at odds with the script used by staff on the Horizon Help Desk, “you’re the only one with a problem with Horizon.”
2. The PO have spent £132 million on legal fees supporting staff attending the Inquiry. Bearing in mind the PO isn’t in profit, I wonder where that money comes from? You & me?

 

[Hobbit]

End of year Post Office Inquiry newsletter.

End of year newsletter: A review of the Post Office Inquiry in 2024 | Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry

Updates from Secretary to the Inquiry, Leila Pilgrim

www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk

 

[Hobbit]

Wrongdoings continue to surface. Unbelievable behaviour in terms of fiddling bonuses, but perhaps of greater concern is the instruction to use WhatsApp so as not to create a paper trail that might be required to be Disclosed.

Post Office CEO allegedly sought to put back redress target to secure bonus

Jane Davies, the former Chief People Officer at the Post Office claims that Post Office management, led by CEO Nick Read, attempted to delay a key compensation target date in order to ensure they q…

www.postofficescandal.uk

 

[Hobbit]

Who, if anyone, should be prosecuted for what is perceived to be the biggest miscarriage of justice ever!

I’ve had several PM’s through the summer and into the autumn asking x, y, z about who should…

I’m a retired electronics engineer, manager and upwards, not a solicitor. Whilst we might all want to be members of the pitchfork armed mob, wouldn’t we be guilty of a miscarriage of justice?

There are a relatively small number of obvious candidates but beyond that it has to be decided by the relevant authorities.

1. Who didn’t stop Seema Misra’s trial, even though bugs had been identified before it went to trial?
2. Who sent out an instruction to destroy all Horizon related meeting minutes? Note, there were (at least) 2 people at different times.
3. Who gave an instruction to label any contentious Horizon material as legally privileged so that it was protected from Disclosure?
4. Who withheld evidence to skew the case towards prosecution? Pick any number of people.
5. Who refused defence teams access to evidence, as opposed to Disclosure issues, to load cases against the defendants?

In terms of Conspiracy to Pervert… it’s subjective but to the untrained(me) there’s mountains of examples that require stress testing - the Inquiry received 2.2 million pages of documents. Jason Beer KC, and the team, lined them up almost every single day from May onwards. But with regards conspiracy and who e.g., the PO had a solicitor, General Counsel, who was very much front and centre right in the middle of the worst period of the prosecutions. He moved on to bigger and better things beyond the PO. After his second appearance before the Inquiry he resigned the very next day from his two high profile directorships. Guilty? Whilst I might view his actions whilst he was employed by the PO as very questionable, that’s for better people than me to decide.

Whatever the high profile, not necessarily high in position, PO employees might have said, go the the Post Office Inquiry’s YouTube channel and watch some of the impact statements made by ex-SubPostmasters and their families. They’re only 15 minutes-ish long but they are truly heartbreaking.