Hiya
My report on Day 2 of Gareth Jenkins is up and can be found here:
I suspect after yesterday, Jenkins has some idea of just how much trouble he’s in (if you missed it, here’s my report from Day 1: “The misplaced confidence of an unreliable god“).
Jason Beer spent most of yesterday methodically testing Jenkins evidence, but it was Sir Wyn Williams, the Inquiry chair, who finished him off. Read all about it here. It’s the hubris that kills you.
Goodbye Al
Forgive me for not mentioning this earlier, but Alisdair Cameron, Post Office CFO has announced he’s stepping down.
Cameron seemed the most candid and human Post Office exec to give evidence at the Inquiry (I realise we’re fishing in a very shallow pool here), and his What Went Wrong? document – written in the aftermath of the Bates v Post Office litigation – is significant. The Post Office, of course, appears to have ignored it.
Ron Warmington from Second Sight (the independent investigators who blew the lid off this scandal) told me Cameron’s departure is “a great pity”. Warmington called Cameron “the most capable person that we met at the Post Office.”
Speaking of the Bates v Post Office litigation, the Law Gazette has more on the data breach which saw the Post Office publish the names and addresses of all 555 litigants, causing great distress and anxiety to some of those affected.
Break a leg
Glitch starts its run at the Minghella Theatre in Reading tonight and BBC online have written a feature on it!
The play puts Pam Stubbs centre stage. Pam is a living refutation of the Jenkins’ doctrine which seems to claim that no Horizon error has been responsible for creating unresolved holes in Subpostmaster branch accounts.
On this occasion it was likely to be an inept temporary installation (and therefore something to do with power supply), but we don’t know, because it was never investigated by the Post Office morons who simply demanded that Pam settle the four figure discrepancies her terminal was generating.
Pam was nearly ruined by the experience. Every time I have spoken to her I have been humbled by her stoicism and good humour. She deserves this tribute. I’m going on Monday. The run looks mostly sold out, but you might be able to get the last few tickets here.
More Jenkins
I’m going to stay across Jenkins’ third day of evidence (which you can watch live here) today before travelling to Scotland to do a Q&A at Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh tomorrow.
I’ll get a report up about what transpires today, but I’m not sure I’m going to have the opportunity to do anything tomorrow. I think, unless there are some big surprises up the Core Participant lawyers’ sleeves, we’ve got the measure of Jenkins.
Before I go – a warm welcome to all the new subscribers. I am delighted there are still people out there wanting to get involved and find out more about this story. Hopefully this newsletter is a useful springboard into various corners of the scandal, whilst also attempting to keep you up to speed with the latest developments.
Back next week!
Nick