Horizon victims call for police investigation over Post Office ‘cover up’ tapes
Victims of the Horizon IT scandal have called for Post Office bosses to face criminal action after bombshell recordings proved management knew that subpostmasters were not responsible for accounting errors.
On Wednesday, Channel 4 News published covertly recorded discussions between Post Office executives and two forensic accountants from 2013.
The conversations – which included Post Office company secretary Alwen Lyons and Post Office chief lawyer Susan Crichton – revealed that management were aware that the Horizon computer system could be used to remotely alter subpostmasters’ accounts.
In written evidence to a Parliamentary select committee Inquiry of 2015, the Post Office denied that accounts could be remotely edited, only admitting it was possible during a High Court case in 2019.
The ability of Fujitsu staff to enter and alter accounts would have raised doubts that unexplained losses could only be explained at the time by errors or theft by subpostmasters, potentially undermining prosecutions.
Christopher Head, 36, became the youngest victim of the Horizon IT scandal when he was wrongly accused of stealing more than £80,000 in 2006.
The criminal case against him was dropped after six months – but the Post Office launched a civil case that remained open until 2020, by which point he was financially ruined.
He said the recordings proved the Post Office was involved in a “cover up” to hide the true cause of shortfalls in subpostmasters’ accounts.
“It just proves once again what we’ve always been saying, that it’s a cover up,” he told i.
“You could have come to that conclusion based on what was already in the public domain. But now I don’t think you need to use words like ‘potentially’ or ‘possibly’ – it’s conclusive.
“As always, it brings more questions than answers. Was Paula Vennells told? From 2013, these two people, Alwen Lyons and Susan Crichton, could have stepped in at any time and said ‘yes the Post Office has remote access’.
“Was this information passed on to the Government? Why did they fight the GLO [Group Litigation Order] group so hard? It feels like, once you go down the route of covering up, you can’t stop.”
He added: “I think the public care about accountability, they want compensation for postmasters, but they want accountability to stop this happening again.
“Otherwise, it undermines the rule of law.”
Seema Misra, 48, who ran a post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, was given a 15-month sentence in 2010 while eight weeks pregnant, having been wrongly convicted of stealing £75,000.
In 2021, her conviction was finally overturned by the Court of Appeal along with 38 other subpostmasters – but she is yet to receive compensation.
Reacting to the recordings, she called for the police to take action against the Post Office.
She told i: “It’s good that the media is working so hard to get all these recordings, but what is the Met Police or the justice system going to do about it?
“I don’t have any faith in the Post Office, the culture stinks. But I have some faith in the justice system.”
She added: “It’s not just postmasters’ lives [the Post Office] ruined, it’s their families’ lives they’ve ruined too.
“So many marriages broke down, so many people died by suicide. So many people did not die of old age, [but] in their 60s because of the torture and trauma.”
In an initial recording revealed by Channel 4 News, Post Office IT specialist Simon Baker admitted to accountants Ian Henderson and Ron Warmington that subpostmasters’ balances could be altered without their knowledge.
Mr Baker said: “If somebody in Bracknell [the location of Fujitsu’s head office] had a brainstorm and wanted to do something, they could just do it.”
The accountants then questioned whether the subpostmasters knew about remote adjustments.
Mr Henderson said: “Based on the email traffic that I’ve seen, there’s nothing to indicate that he or she was informed.”
Mr Baker later added: “I told them (Ms Lyons and Ms Crichton) that I’ve just found out from Fujitsu that there is a mechanism and their faces dropped.”
Another recording contains a meeting between the accountants, Ms Lyons and Ms Crichton later that day, in which Mr Henderson said “someone needs to brief Paula (Vennells, then Post Office chief executive)” about the issue.
Mr Henderson and Mr Warmington were subsequently sacked by the Post Office. It is not known whether Ms Vennells was briefed or not.
Liam Byrne, chairman of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, has also called for the police to investigate in light of the recordings.
Giving his reaction to Channel 4 News, he said: “The point is not just that they mislead Parliament – they were sending people to prison as late as 2015, two years after these recordings are being made.”
Mr Byrne also posted on X, formerly Twitter: “We must now ask whether police have enough evidence to bring those who jailed the innocent to justice”.
Hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongly convicted of stealing after the Post Office’s defective Horizon accounting system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.
The Post Office also forced at least 4,000 branch managers to pay back cash based on the flawed data.
An inquiry into the Post Office and the Horizon IT scandal will continue next month.
A Met Police spokesperson said the force began an investigation in January 2020 into matters concerning Fujitsu Horizon and the Post Office following a referral from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“The investigation is ongoing into potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice. These potential offences arise out of investigations and prosecutions carried out by the Post Office.
“We are also investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions, for example monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions. Two people have been interviewed under caution to date.
“Our investigation is considering the actions of individuals connected with Fujitsu and the Post Office. We are an interested party to the public inquiry and are monitoring and gathering the evidence it hears.”
A Post Office spokesperson said: “The statutory Public Inquiry, chaired by a judge with the power to question witnesses under oath, is the best forum to examine the issues raised by this evidence.
“We continue to remain fully focussed on supporting the Inquiry get to the truth of what happened and accountability for that.”
In a statement, Fujitsu said it regards the matter with the utmost seriousness “and offers its deepest apologies to the sub-postmasters and their families”.
“The UK statutory public inquiry, to which our UK subsidiary is providing full cooperation, is examining complex events that have unfolded over many years, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to this cooperation.
“Based on the findings of the inquiry, we will also be working with the UK government on the appropriate actions, including contribution to compensation. The Fujitsu Group hopes for a swift resolution that ensures a just outcome for the victims.”
