The Bare Minimum Effort

Good morning

It’s a soggy Saturday and I am on football duty. I am writing to alert you to a new blog post. It concerns another Post Office investigator asserting his career-long blind belief in the integrity of the Horizon IT system.

Paul Whitaker (above) gave evidence on Thursday. Towards the end of his session, he made all the right regretful noises, telling the Inquiry:

“the thought that somebody within Post Office Limited or Fujitsu had knowledge that the Horizon system was flawed and didn’t disclose that and kept that to themselves for whatever reason, sits incredibly uncomfortably with me, particularly knowing that I was the face of Post Office Limited when going out and seeing people and essentially causing upset and destroying their lives.”

It can’t be great to feel a bit of a chump-in-hindsight, but I am grateful to Nigel Derby, a secret emailer who highlighted a brief, but telling piece of Mr Whitaker’s evidence. You can read about it on the blog.

Paul Whitaker wasn’t just duped by Fujitsu or his masters at the Post Office, it appears he also wasn’t very good at his job. It’s easy to fool an idiot, and I still cannot understand how so many of them were employed by the Post Office, and then promoted into positions of power.

You may think I’m being unkind. I got an email from a Radio 4 listener yesterday who heard the new episodes of the Great Post Office Trial series last week. They thought I might be in danger of instigating a witch hunt by calling what happened in 2013 at the Post Office a cover-up.

The first time I used the phrase “cover up” when writing about the Post Office, Paula Vennells’ lawyer ordered me to take the piece down or potentially find myself facing legal action. I don’t hear from him so much any more.

Book Hustle

I know many of you have kindly donated to join this newsletter and I know many of you have also bought at least one of the books above, but I feel duty bound to inform you that with Christmas coming. If you need stocking fillers, you might want to consider making some gift purchases for the book lover in your life.

The Great Post Office Scandal paperback edition came out less than 12 months ago, and Depp v Heard: the unreal story is pretty much box fresh. Both have been well-reviewed (Depp v Heard was The Week’s Book of the Week!) and they are very close to my heart.

You can find out more and buy both books via the links in this blog post. If you would be so kind as to consider ordering a few hundred of copies of each, we’ll have that Richard Osman fellow by Christmas.

Incidentally the photo above is the first time I have taken a shot of me holding both books. It took me six months to think of that. I’m clearly not a born marketeer.

Theatre Hustle

Thank you for the wonderful response to the announcement of next year’s talks in various theatres around England. Take a look the Post Office Scandal events page, as we’ve added a couple more guests, with more to come. I think one or two more dates might also get announced, and I am really really sorry if they are not in your area.

The way it works is that the production company I have signed with (run by a friend from university) offer all theatres in the UK the talk, and the theatres then decide whether or not they want to programme it. The production company and the theatre then share the (considerable financial) risk of putting the talk on, setting ticket prices and doing what marketing they can to try to get people through the door.

If we are not coming to a town near you, that’s not because we don’t want to. It’s because the theatres in that area are not interested in hosting the talk. That is completely fine – I’m grateful, frankly, that any venues have taken an interest in what is essentially a niche subject presented by a no-name host. It’s a tough sell. The dates we did in 2022 lost loads of money, but because we saw encouraging signs in some of the sales towards the end of the run, and my friend from university is extremely motivated by the horrors of this story and is keen to do his bit to spread the word, we go again.

Other media coverage of the Inquiry

Computer weekly has news of yet more buggering about by the Post Office which will cause delays to the Inquiry and the postponement of some crucial witness hearings, including former Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins, who is (according to the Inquiry Chair) not now going to be heard for several months.

Incidentally I am – using my limited understanding and experience – keeping a rough date in my head for the end of the inquiry. Before Thursday’s nonsense (as reported by CW), I felt it was unlikely that the inquiry would finish before the end of September next year, giving the Chair three months to get the report in before Christmas 2024. I think that now looks very tight, and I think we are probably looking at a report in early 2025.

Someone I know with much more inquiry experience than me was adamant we’d finish in summer 2024 with the report landing in autumn 2024, but I haven’t spoken to them for a while.

The Evening Standard has written up Warwick Tatford’s evidence to the Inquiry. Tatford was the prosecuting barrister in Seema Misra’s case. The copy leads on Post Office lawyer Jarnail Singh’s email demand to Gareth Jenkins that he give evidence which “preserves” the perceived integrity of the Horizon system. The email will be familiar to those of you who have read my book, but it’s good to see it getting a very public airing. Singh, incidentally, is one of those witnesses whose evidence to the Inquiry has been delayed.

The BBC led on Tatford’s feelings of being “ashamed” to have been involved with the Post Office’s false prosecutions.

I am going to try to find the time to go through the evidence from two of the Post Office’s finest – Cath Oglesby (Thursday afternoon) and Tony Utting (all day Friday) – and report back. If you were watching live and heard or spotted anything which you thought was interesting, please do get in touch.

Welcome and thanks

I’d like to welcome all the new secret emailers who have joined in the last week, possibly somehow finding their way here as a result of listening to the new episodes of The Great Post Office Trial, which can be found all lined up from Episode 1 to 17 on the BBC Sounds website.

Thanks very much for coming on board. Do please feel free to tell me how you found this newsletter by hitting reply – your response goes straight to my inbox.

I never reveal who is on this mailing list (without their express permission, as per Nigel Derby) and all communication between us is in the strictest confidence.

I am always interested to hear your thoughts on the scandal, whether you want to draw my attention to something, or just have some ideas you want to share. I can’t promise to respond to every email, but I do read every one and I do appreciate you taking the time to get in touch.

Very best

Nick