Post Office 'shredded' records of meetings about issues with Horizon

  • Post Office lawyer Rodric Williams said allegation was ‘extremely serious’ 

The Post Office ‘shredded’ records of meetings about problems with its Horizon IT system, the inquiry into the scandal was told yesterday.

The inquiry also heard the Post Office feared subpostmasters who had been convicted of offences based on Horizon evidence would jump on a ‘bandwagon’ and challenge their convictions if damaging documents surfaced as part of a mediation process.

The organisation received advice from external barrister Simon Clarke in 2013 suggesting that a leading Horizon engineer and the Post Office had ‘breached their duties’ to the court in respect of the trial of a pregnant postmistress, and subsequent advice suggested meeting minutes talking about Horizon bugs had been shredded.

Addressing the destruction of meeting minutes in advice given to the organisation, Mr Clarke had written: ‘An instruction was then given that those emails and minutes should be, and have been, destroyed: the word “shredded” was conveyed to me.’

Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC asked yesterday’s witness, Post Office lawyer Rodric Williams: ‘What did you think when you read (it)?’, to which Mr Williams replied: ‘It’s an extremely serious allegation.’

post office 'shredded' records of meetings about issues with horizon

Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC pictured arriving at Aldwych House on Thursday

post office 'shredded' records of meetings about issues with horizon

Mr Beer asked yesterday’s witness, Post Office lawyer Rodric Williams (pictured at the inquiry yesterday): ‘What did you think when you read (it)?’, to which Mr Williams replied: ‘It’s an extremely serious allegation’

READ MORE: Review launched into ANOTHER Post Office IT system rolled out years before Horizon amid fears of dozens more wrongly convicted sub-postmasters 

Mr Beer continued: ‘Presumably you were quite shocked to read it?’, with the witness answering: ‘Yes.’

Asked what steps he took to investigate the claims, Mr Williams said he could not recall, though bristled at the suggestion he did nothing.

‘I can’t remember what happened at that time 11 years ago – so what I felt needed to be done or should be done I can’t recall now,’ he said.

While he said there should have been an investigation, no consideration was given to reporting the matter to the police, he added.

Mr Williams said he would have been concerned if, as put to him by Mr Beer, ‘you found out that it was said to be the head of security that had given an instruction to shred documents?’

The witness joined the Post Office in 2012 but told the inquiry he ‘takes no pride, comfort or confidence’ in having worked for the organisation.

Mr Williams told the probe he was ‘truly sorry’ for being associated with the ‘greatest miscarriage of justice we’ve seen’.

post office 'shredded' records of meetings about issues with horizon

The witness joined the Post Office in 2012 but told the inquiry he ‘takes no pride, comfort or confidence’ in having worked for the organisation (Stock Photo)

post office 'shredded' records of meetings about issues with horizon

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Government-owned organisation and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches (Stock Photo)

The Post Office has come under fire since the broadcast of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which put the Horizon scandal under the spotlight.

More than 700 subpostmasters were prosecuted by the Government-owned organisation and handed criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon system made it appear as though money was missing at their branches.

Hundreds of subpostmasters are awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.

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