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Gareth Jenkins Day 2: the god complex unravels
Read More…: Gareth Jenkins Day 2: the god complex unravelsOn Tuesday Gareth Jenkins was quite certain he had no idea what the duties of an expert witness were until 2020. Today we discovered he was sent an email in 2006 explaining what the duties of an expert witness were, whilst he was being asked to provide evidence to the Post Office in preparation for the criminal trial of a Subpostmaster. Jenkins went on to be described as the Post Office’s expert witness in several prosecutions, including that of Seema Misra in 2010. The first half hour of Jenkins’ evidence today was taken up with Jason Beer taking him through…
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Gareth Jenkins: the misplaced confidence of an unreliable god
Read More…: Gareth Jenkins: the misplaced confidence of an unreliable godWe know that Gareth Jenkins, Fujtisu’s “unreliable god” (in the words of Anthony de Garr Robinson) does not have a PhD – despite being erroneously described as Dr Jenkins in the first Clarke Advice and a number of Post Office documents. He does, however, have a maths degree from Cambridge. We found out today he was not and never has been a Chief Architect of Horizon, nor has he ever been Fujitsu’s Lead Engineer on Horizon. In terms of his career, Jenkins joined ICL (which later became part of Fujitsu) on graduating in 1973 and in the 1990s was recognised…
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Graham Ward: a man in trouble
Read More…: Graham Ward: a man in troubleGraham Ward was the Post Office investigator who helped put former Subpostmaster Noel Thomas away. Whether he did so by perverting the course of justice is something the Metropolitan Police (his current employer) will be looking at very closely, after today’s evidence session. The Metropolitan Police are core participants to the Inquiry. Mr Ward was called back to the Inquiry after his first evidence session on 1 Feb this year. During that evidence session he was taken by Jason Beer KC to various emails surrounding a witness statement drafted in late 2005 by Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins which was going…
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Second Sight tell it straight
Read More…: Second Sight tell it straight“Good luck” said a reporter as Ron Warmington headed into Aldwych House. Warmington wheeled round. “Don’t need bloody luck”, he grinned. “I’ve been waiting twelve years for this.” Indeed he has. In 2012 forensic accountants Ron Warmington and Ian Henderson were invited by MPs, the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and the Post Office to investigate Subpostmaster complaints surrounding the Horizon IT system. They were contracted to the Post Office via Warmington’s consultancy vehicle Second Sight. Second Sight’s seminal Interim Report, produced in July 2013, drew attention to serious problems at the Post Office, noting three bugs with the Horizon…
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Knighthood for Sir Alan!
Read More…: Knighthood for Sir Alan!Alan Bates has been knighted in the King’s Birthday honours list. He described the award as “a very pleasant surprise”, telling BBC News’ Emma Simpson “I knew so many people who were keen for me to actually receive something, I felt I would be insulting them as much as anyone else if I refused it at this time.” I am delighted for Sir Alan, and I am glad he has been recognised in this way. I think he was right to turn the OBE down and right to accept the K. I think this goes a tiny way towards putting…
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Post Office legal strategy: “force the claimants to burn money”
Read More…: Post Office legal strategy: “force the claimants to burn money”The second day of Andy Parsons’ evidence (see here for a piece on the first) was short with only a few new documents to consider. One was another piece of corroboration that the Post Office strategy during Bates v Post Office – the seminal legal battle which blew the lid off the scandal – was to run the claimants out of road. Today we saw a document in which Andy Parsons, a Womble Bond Dickinson lawyer tasked with co-ordinated the Post Office’s defence of Bates v Post Office told his colleagues on 1 Nov 2018 (the eve of the first…
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Post Office lawyer: Postmasters are liars
Read More…: Post Office lawyer: Postmasters are liarsA civil litigation lawyer instructed by the Post Office branded campaigning former Subpostmasters Jo Hamilton, Noel Thomas and Seema Misra “liars and criminals” whilst discussing PR strategy with his clients. Andy Parsons from Bond Dickinson was advising the Post Office on their media response to a 2015 episode of Panorama which featured all three Subpostmasters. In an internal email to the Post Office legal team, revealed today at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, Parsons noted that trying to argue the technical legal points around the prosecution of Jo Hamilton would not be “worthwhile” as the “man in street” would…
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Lord Grabiner: Never Mind “That Bollox”
Read More…: Lord Grabiner: Never Mind “That Bollox”Lord Grabiner strode into the Inquiry hearing room wielding a walking cane. As he didn’t appear to be using it to support himself it rather gave the impression it might be utilised to punish impertinence. Jason Beer KC, who asked questions on behalf of the inquiry, appeared unruffled. Grabiner was called to explore his apparent firm belief that there was something so wrong with Mr Justice Fraser’s Common Issues trial judgment that Fraser should be removed as managing judge of the Bates v Post Office group litigation. Grabiner’s ace in the hole was a six page document written by Lord…
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De Garr Robinson’s Jenkins problem
Read More…: De Garr Robinson’s Jenkins problemPoor old Tony Robinson, just trying to make an honest crust defending his client, whilst being misled by his instructing solicitors (Womble Bond Dickinson), his client’s supplier (Fujitsu) or possibly even his client – the Post Office! As leading counsel for the Post Office in the Horizon Issues trial during Bates v Post Office, de Garr Robinson regularly seemed to be on the receiving end of duff information, which he took at face value and dutifully represented to to the High Court as fact. This, as he described in his witness statement, was sub-optimal. Recalling the first such occasion, he…
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Post Office refuses to say how much Grabiner and Neuberger cost
Read More…: Post Office refuses to say how much Grabiner and Neuberger costOn 4 October 2023, I asked the Post Office to disclose the fee notes for Lords Grabiner and Neuberger under the Freedom of Information Act. I thought it would be interesting to know just how much public cash the Post Office used to spend on their advice, which informed the Post Office’s decision to demand Mr Justice Fraser recuse himself as managing judge of the Bates v Post Office litigation . On 20 Dec 2023, the Post Office refused to hand over the fee notes. On 28 Dec 2023 I asked the Post Office to review their decision (giving various…
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