Transcripts online

Hello secret emailers!

I spent a day working on Post Office Trial admin today.

Over the last nine hours I have published more than half a million words to the postofficetrial.com website and the online public document vault Scribd. More on that in a moment, but first:

Judgment latest

I got a note from the judge’s new clerk telling me the Common Issues judgment will not be handed down before the Case Management Conference on 31 Jan. So February, then. I asked when in February, but no guess was given, so I will ask again nearer the time.

Transcripts!

You now have, up online, every single witness statement from the Common Issues trial, the generic particulars of claim, the generic defence, and most importantly, the transcripts from Days 1 – 11 of the trial (I am told I will be sent days 12 – 15 shortly).

To make it all navigable, I have created a special Common Issues Trial Menu and a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to working your way through it.

There’s loads to dive in and look at. I know what Angela van den Bogerd had to say will be of interest and the cross-examination of Post Office employee Paul Williams (who I know features in many a horror story) will attract some readers.

The combination of dimness, incompetence and blithe unconcern exhibited by some Post Office witnesses will contrast with the stark passion of the claimants’ witnesses. The pointed comments of the judge are quite powerful, too.

If you find something particularly interesting, by all means alert me and I’ll have a look, but remember these are court transcripts of sworn evidence. They carry weight. If you think someone has perjured themselves or just told a plain porky pie, and you have the evidence to prove it, send the relevant passages to people who matter.

Your stories

I’ve spent the last few weeks reading some horrendous stories that have been sent in by claimants. Some have made it on to the blog, some I am still busy editing or waiting to edit. I am very grateful to everyone who has taken the trouble to contact me. Although I did what I will call a billable day’s work against the crowdfunding total today to get the transcripts up, I am going through everything else in my own time which inevitably, slows things down. I’m actually doing Dry January at the moment and when I decided to do it I thought it meant I would have hours of extra time to slave away on Post Office admin, but it hasn’t quite worked out like that!

Thanks for all the donations over the past few weeks and all your wonderful correspondence. I can probably afford to do another admin day before the judgment drops, I’ll definitely be at the Case Management Conference on 31 Jane and then I’ll be reading the judgment with interest when it comes through. People keep asking me what I think it will say. I honestly couldn’t even begin to guess, but from listening to the very cogent arguments made by David Cavender QC at the end of the trial I really think there’s every chance it could be a complete damp squib. The judge might well just look at the case law and decide the Post Office are perfectly entitled to do what they’ve been doing.

And on that note – go have a look at the transcripts. If you spot any dodgy or broken links just reply to this email and I’ll fix them.

Take care.

Nick