Scoop: the Post Office’s poison messenger

Hi

Sorry I haven’t been in contact for 48 hours. I’ve been trying to break a story and learn how to front a live television programme (tricky but not impossible, as it turns out).

I did two days presenting Rosanna Lockwood’s show “Primetime” on TalkTV and last night I was able to bring them the investigation I mentioned in the last newsletter. Apologies for not being able to break the story here, but we were working on it right up to transmission.

Guard down

I obtained two recordings of Richard Taylor, current Post Office Director of Communications. Mr Taylor was recorded speaking in March 2020 (after the High Court had ruled on the appalling treatment of Subpostmasters and the holes in the Horizon system) and November 2021 (after dozens of convictions had been quashed).

In the 2020 recordings he says of the discrepancies Subpostmasters were complaining about:

RT: “We give you… £30,000 pounds in cash to stick in a safe. And the problem with £30,000 in cash in a safe if you’ve got 11,500 post officers [sic] is some of those people decide to… not necessarily with any particular intent… to borrow that money for a little while.”

Q. “So you think that’s what happened?”

RT: “Well some of them downright stole it.”

Also in 2020, he materially misrepresented the High Court judgment, stating:

RT: “It’s never been proven that there was a link between the computer glitch and anybody actually losing any money. That’s what the judge said as well. There’s no causal link….”

Q. “So where did the money go?”

RT: “God Knows.”

Interestingly this was the line the Post Office Chief Executive Nick Read was trying to spin to parliament in June 2020.

It is, of course, horse manure. The judgment says:

“It was possible for bugs, errors or defects of the nature alleged by the claimants to have the potential to cause apparent or alleged discrepancies…. Further, all the evidence in the Horizon Issues trial shows not only was there the potential for this to occur, but it actually has happened, and on numerous occasions.” [my emphasis]

The 2021 comments are equally revealing. I urge you to either watch the full 25 minute segment on the TalkTV website, which features searing comment from former Post Office manager Nichola Arch and Flora Page, a barrister who is representing several Subpostmasters at the Inquiry. Or read my tweet thread.

TalkTV contacted Mr Taylor to see what he had to say about his comments. He replied: “I am deeply sorry about the terrible impact of this scandal on victims and have consistently apologised for all they have suffered. I sincerely apologise for any past remarks that I may have made during personal conversations which cause hurt or offence.”

Post Office’s interference in BBC Panorama revealed

This is a story my colleagues at Panorama have been sitting on for nearly nine years, waiting for the moment it became in the public interest. It concerns the attempts by the Post Office to stop our 2015 documentary from being broadcast.

Particularly strenuous efforts were made by Mark Davies, Robert Taylor’s predecessor at the Post Office. Do have a read of Tim and Andy’s story. I do hope Mssrs Davies and Taylor are called before the enquiry.

Incidentally all (first, second and third) Panoramas on the Post Office Scandal are now live on the iPlayer. Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen them already.

Witherow on manoeuvres

Another good story from Tom Witherow appears in the Times today (online version pictured above). It’s about an as-yet unheard number of recordings, apparently unrelated to the one I broadcast last night, which have been handed to the public inquiry.

Tom is apparently dealing with a source close to the inquiry and has been able to find out what’s on some of the tapes. It’s all getting very intriguing. Read more here.

Also Professor Richard Moorhead appeared on Newsnight last night to talk about the Post Office scandal. Moorhead is a member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board and what he has to say about the legal nuts and bolts of that process and, of course, the failings of lawyers involved in the process is always fascinating.

It’s the last segment in the programme, which has, like many other news programmes followed and reflected the growing outrage over the scandal over the past week. Do subscribe to Prof Moorhead’s substack on the Post Office Scandal, it’s free.

Sara’s Story

I was determined not to do any broadcast yesterday other than my own programme on TalkTV in order to ensure that our tapes exclusive could actually go out.

Then Today and the Adrian Chiles show on BBC 5 live came calling. Both had lined up Sara Burgess-Boyde as a guest.

Sara kindly allowed us to use the audio from her interview with her contracts manager in episode three of The Great Post Office Trial. It is a harrowing listen.

My piece on Today is on at 6.50am (50m in to the prog), and Sara is interviewed after 8am (at around 2hr 10). As with most news outlets up to Thursday this week, it was the lead item.

Bradshaw’s big break

Adrian Chiles is a hero of mine. It was an honour to be asked into the studio as a “presenter’s friend” to commentate on the evidence of Stephen Bradshaw, a Post Office investigator.

Bradshaw’s questioning was streamed live as rolling news on all the major news channels. He came across as a man in total denial. There are plenty of online pieces about him (one example here).

Given Bradshaw was responsible for putting so many innocent people in prison, I’m rather surprised he hasn’t yet lost his job, but he’s still there – on the Post Office (and therefore taxpayer)’s payroll.

5 live videod and clipped up my initial thoughts on his evidence. I didn’t actually know the cameras in the studio were switched on but the clip has done the rounds.

If you have time, a far better listen is from 39 minutes or so when Adrian and I have a chat with Sara Burgess-Boyde. Like so many other former Subpostmasters, Sara is a powerful and articulate advocate and she really brought home just how badly she was treated.

Thanks and welcome and sorry

Apologies for not drawing attention to some of the fantastic media work by other journalists, experts and brilliant Subpostmasters over the last 48 hours. I am running on fumes and I wouldn’t be surprised if some people decide to switch their phones off this weekend.

I actually got quite concerned about how hard some people are pushing themselves. It has been an immensely gratifying, but tiring week, and I would like to pay tribute to everyone who allowed themselves to be interviewed, or who was working behind the scenes to make sure this story got maximum exposure.

And if you are new here – welcome! We’re a friendly bunch. If you have any information about this story you’d like to give me – please hold off for a few days. I’ve not looked at my emails for a while now and I am going to have to go back through two weeks’ worth to see if I’ve missed anything.

If you require a reply to an email you’ve already sent and you don’t hear from me in a couple of weeks, please re-send the email. I always usually say I read every email I get sent, but that has not been possible over the last fortnight.

Hopefully normal service will resume shortly.

I am unlikely to send out another newsletter over the weekend so have a good one and I’ll see you on the other side. By the way – next week, after the News at Ten, ITV are repeating their drama series about the scandal which they first screened last week.

It apparently did quite well…

Very best

Nick