plus: Government torpedoes GLO deadline
Hi there
Jarnail Singh, the internal Post Office lawyer who sent round an email crowing about the imprisonment of Seema Misra, is currently giving a masterclass in confused obfuscation at the Horizon IT inquiry.
He really isn’t making much sense, but it is compelling viewing. You can spend the next two days watching here.
New blog post
I have dragged myself away to alert you to a blog post I’ve just written about the evidence provided to the Inquiry yesterday by David Pardoe.
Pardoe told the Inquiry:
“There was a persistent sentiment that the [Horizon] system was fit for purpose. I was never in a meeting when it was discussed with me the concept of putting the brakes on prosecution activity. It’s clear that there was a fear that, to do that, would immediately cast doubt on prosecutions that had been completed, that had gone before.”
That last sentence, I feel, is significant when it comes to joining the criminal conspiracy dots. I’ve tried to explain why here.
Artificial deadline dismantled
The government’s artificial (but legal) deadline for getting compensation claims sorted for the 555 Bates v Post Office High Court claimants has been dismantled with new legislation which will allow lawyers to argue endlessly between themselves about who should get what, how and when for as long as they like.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? The alternative was that all unsettled GLO claims would disappear like Cinderella’s carriage at midnight on 7 August 2024.
Karl Flinders has written this up for Computer Weekly here. He’s also put together a piece about the tens of millions of quid the Post Office continue to chuck in Fujitsu’s direction (a relationship they’ve been trying to get out of for nearly 10 years now).
CCRC refers two posthumous Subpostmaster cases
The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred two more Subpostmaster appeals to Southwark Crown Court. The sad fact they are no longer with us posits a legal problem which has been rather drily written up by Joshua Rozenberg on his legal blog.
Horizon Scandal Fund grants
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we’re so grateful to the Subpostmasters who have kindly allowed us to publish a few words about their experience of approaching the Horizon Scandal Fund. If you missed it last time, do click on the news section of the Horizon Scandal Fund website, if only for more cute pictures of Gizmo.
Finally – my thanks to the team at Crafty Counsel who let me loose on a room full of lawyers yesterday to talk about the Post Office Horizon scandal. I am grateful to them for organising such a professional event and their substantial donation to the Horizon Scandal Fund.
All best
Nick