In 2015, Lord James Arbuthnot (photo), while still an MP, called for a judge-led investigation into the Post Office’s handling of the issue, saying: “These are people who have been pillars of the community and have their reputations dragged through the mud. The way they have been treated is an utter disgrace.
The British Post Office scandal is one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in recent history.
At the heart of this scandal was a single, devastating lie:
that the Horizon IT system, used by the Post Office, was robust and reliable.
The Single Lie: The Robustness of Horizon
The Horizon IT system was introduced in the late 1990s to modernize the accounting and management processes of the British Post Office. However, despite its advanced design, Horizon was fraught with bugs and errors. Unfortunately, the Post Office management maintained that the system was infallible.
The Ivory Tower: Senior Management’s Focus on Reputation
During this period, senior management, including figures such as Paula Vennels, were more concerned with maintaining the Post Office’s brand and good reputation than addressing the underlying issues. This “Ivory Tower” mentality led to a gross negligence of the truth and a disregard for the plight of those affected by Horizon’s failures.
Profound Corruption and Its Consequences
This unwavering belief in Horizon’s reliability led to numerous wrongful accusations of theft, fraud, and false accounting against sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses across the UK. Many of these individuals faced severe consequences, including financial ruin, imprisonment, and irreparable damage to their reputations.
The Unraveling of the Scandal
Over time, evidence surfaced that Horizon was anything but reliable. The persistent efforts of affected individuals and investigative journalists revealed the truth. It became apparent that the Post Office had ignored critical flaws in the system and had continued to prosecute innocent people based on inaccurate data.
Justice Versus Conscience
The British Post Office scandal highlights a crucial battle between justice and conscience. The unwavering trust in a flawed system and the subsequent cover-up by the Post Office officials showed a profound disregard for the truth and the lives of innocent people.
Conclusion
The Post Office scandal serves as a stark reminder of the importance of transparency, accountability, and the need for organizations to prioritize truth and justice over maintaining a false image of infallibility. It is a lesson in the devastating impact a single lie can have when it is propagated by those in power.
1 Paula Vennells was ‘lying’ about Post Office scandal, claims forensic accountant
Summary
The Post Office scandal involved thousands of sub postmasters wrongfully prosecuted for theft due to issues with the Post Office’s Horizon computer system. A public inquiry has revealed attempts by Post Office executives to cover up the problems, including trying to ‘shut down’ campaigns by affected sub postmasters and supportive MPs. There is evidence the Post Office knew Horizon could cause money discrepancies, yet still prosecuted sub postmasters based on false accounts. MPs and investigators allege the Post Office lied to government committees and inquiries. There are now calls for police investigations and criminal prosecutions over the scandal which ruined lives over many years.
😡 The UK Post Office scandal involved thousands of subpostmasters wrongfully accused and convicted of theft.
😟 Senior Post Office executives and lawyers knew of problems with the Horizon IT system but covered them up.
😠 Post Office executives tried to shut down MPs and campaigners investigating the scandal.
😤 The Post Office misled Parliament about evidence of miscarriages of justice.
😢 Subpostmaster lives were ruined by false accusations and wrongful convictions.
😠 The Post Office limited the information given to investigating forensic accountants.
😡 The Post Office CEO denied any evidence of miscarriages of justice despite being aware of such evidence.
🤬 An investigator believes the Post Office CEO lied to Parliament about miscarriages of justice.
😤 The Post Office tried to control and shut down an MP and subpostmasters’ alliance investigating the scandal.
😠 There are calls for criminal investigations and prosecutions of Post Office leaders involved in the scandal cover up.
Paula Vennells was ‘lying’ about Post Office scandal, claims forensic accountant
23 jan 2024
It might have taken a drama to galvanise the response to a crisis – but the public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon scandal is gradually bringing more details to light, as hundreds of victims seek justice for their ruined lives.
The inquiry will be hoping to uncover more details when it examines a series of covert recordings. This programme has obtained a summary of some of the tapes – a meeting in 2013 between Post Office executives and the independent forensic accountants brought in to investigate.
Should ex-Post Office boss return £2m bonuses? Feat. Ann Widdecombe & Michael J Walker | Jeremy Vine
11 jan 2024
The Post Office controversy continues to gain pace, with a lot of the blame being placed with Paula Vennells, who said she would hand back her CBE.
Jeremy Vine on 5 is on television every weekday at 9:15am until 1:30pm on Channel 5.
2 The Evil of the Post Office – The forensic accountants were stonewalled by the Post Office
Forensic accountants who attempted to investigate and expose the flaws within the Horizon system were consistently stonewalled by the Post Office. This obstruction prevented the timely uncovering of critical evidence that could have exonerated many wrongfully accused sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses.
Post Office: Accountants say their work was ‘sabotaged’ by Post Office management
They might not be household names, but Ron Warmington and Ian Henderson, played a pivotal role in uncovering what has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history. The two forensic accountants gave evidence today at the ongoing inquiry looking into the scandal that ruined the lives of over 900 subpostmasters. The accountants who were hired and subsequently sacked said their work was constantly sabotaged by the Post Office’s senior management.
The private investigators who exposed Horizon IT scandal | ITV News
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Pt1 PO aware accounting errors in Horizon leading to prosecutions
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Horizon IT scandal: Post Office officials knew of instruction for Fujitsu to remotely change sub-postmaster accounts 10 years ago, leaked recordings suggest. Before they were sacked, forensic accountants uncovered specific dates and times that sub-postmaster accounts were remotely ‘corrected’ by Fujitsu.3 Apr 2024
Horizon IT scandal: Post Office officials knew of instruction for …
Sky News news. sky. com › story › horizon-it-scandal-post-o…
Paula Vennells tried to steer investigators away from …
The Telegraph www. telegraph. co. uk › news › 2024/06/18 › pau…
8 hours ago — Paula Vennells attempted to “steer” investigators away from looking at wrongful Horizon convictions, a forensic accountant has told the Post …
Post Office accused of cover-up over secret Horizon …
BBC www. bbc. co. uk › news › business-68079300
26 Jan 2024 — Post Office bosses secretly decided in April 2014 to sack forensic accountants who had found bugs in their IT system, documents obtained by …
Forensic Accountant supports Post Office scandal victims
Milsted Langdon www. milstedlangdon. co. uk › News
11 Jan 2024 — In 2013, the Post Office hired an independent firm of forensic accountants, Second Sight, to look at its Horizon computer system and investigate …
Post Office scandal: Leaked recordings reveal bosses …
City A.M. www. cityam. com › post-office-scandal-leaked-rec…
4 Apr 2024 — Forensic accountants discovered direct instructions from the Post Office to Fujitsu, instructing the alteration of sub-postmaster accounts.
No 10 ‘taking seriously’ reports that Horizon files show Post …
The Guardian www. theguardian. com › uk-news › jan › no-10-t…
26 Jan 2024 — BBC says government aware of alleged Post Office plan in 2014 to sack forensic accountants who flagged bugs in IT system.
NOW WATCHING – 22:30
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Major Tory Donor to Back Labour
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18/06/2024
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Pt2 Post Office looked to sack investigators from Second Sight
19 jun 2024
inews. co. uk
Post Office’s secret plan to sack investigators reviewing Horizon explained
New documents reveal how Government officials knew the Post Office was looking to sack independent investigators from Second Sight.
.26 Jan 2024
Shropshire Star
Paula Vennells not being told full story about Post Office probe – Alan Bates
Mr Bates told the public inquiry he did not feel confident Ms Vennells was ‘truly invested’ in investigations by forensic accountants.
.9 Apr 2024
Newsnight
Major Tory Donor to Back Labour
The billionaire John Caudwell, who donated £500,000 to the Conservatives before the last election, reveals he is voting Labour for the first time. With Victoria Derbyshire.
Duration 30 mins First shown 10:30pm 18 Jun 2024 Available for 11 months
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Educational: essiential to listen to
Educational: essiential to listen to
Post Office accused of cover-up
Horizon scandal: More than £1m claimed as Post Office ‘profit’ may have come from sub-postmasters
28 mrt 2024
More than £1m of unexplained transactions were transferred in to Post Office profit at the height of the Horizon scandal, leaked documents have shown.
The papers, seen by Sky News, show a snapshot of transfers from a Post Office “miscellaneous client” suspense account over a four-year period, up to 2014.
A suspense account is where unexplained, or disputed, transactions remain until they are able to be “reconciled”.
The Post Office released a statement in response to the findings, saying: “The statutory public inquiry, chaired by a judge with the power to question witnesses under oath, is the best forum to examine the issues raised by this evidence.
“We continue to remain fully focused on supporting the inquiry to get to the truth of what happened and accountability for that.”
Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/horizon-sc…
3 “Subbies with their hands in the till”
“Subbies with their hands in the till”
were blaming Horizon is one he will
“regret for the rest of my life”
Post Office: Ex-boss who accused subpostmasters of having ‘their hand in the till’ under fire
12 apr 2024
A former Post Office boss has apologised after it was revealed that he blamed cash shortfalls on branch mangers “with their hands in the till”.
The comment was made in an email, read out in the inquiry into the post office horizon IT scandal which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly prosecuted.
Giving evidence Alan Cook said it was an expression he would “regret for the rest of my life”.
Post Office inquiry: former MD grilled over scandal
11 apr 2024
A former managing director of the Post Office has said he “didn’t really reflect” on the fact that the organisation investigated and decided whether to prosecute crimes it was the alleged victim of “the way that I perhaps should have done”.
Giving evidence from the witness box at the Post Office inquiry on Thursday, David Smith was asked by counsel to the inquiry Sam Stevens.
Mr Smith said he was always “reassured” that the Horizon system could not be “tampered with” and would have “approached things differently” had he known that was not true.
Former Post Office boss Alan Cook challenged during inquiry over treatment of jailed sub-postmasters
12 apr 2024
A former managing director of the Post Office has said an email suggesting “subbies with their hands in the till” were blaming Horizon is one he will “regret for the rest of my life”.
Alan Cook, who was in the position from 2006-2010, described his words as “unacceptable” and denied it represented his actual views at the time.
Ex-Post Office boss cornered over possible cover-up of Horizon scandal in Inquiry hearing
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David Smith faced the music at the Post Office Inquiry today, when he was quizzed on his knowledge of Horizon software defects after the publication of the Ismay report in 2010.
Sub-postmaster wrongly sent to prison while pregnant rejects apology from ex-Post Office boss
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4 Paula Vennells Can’t Remember
Paula Vennells Can’t Remember
“Nothing She Can Say To Redeem Herself” | Tearful Paula Vennells Admits Not Telling MPs Truth
5 They wrongly blamed the Sub Postmasters – James Arbuthnot campaigned to put it right
Paula Vennells blamed ‘temptation’ of money in tills not IT system, Post Office inquiry hears
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10 apr 2024
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells suggested “temptation” for subpostmasters to borrow money from tills was a problem, not the faulty Horizon IT system, the inquiry into the scandal has heard.
It was Lord Arbuthnot’s turn to give evidence, expressing his frustration at successive governments’ attempts to play down the issue whenever he raised it.
Lord Arbuthnot says:
“They were operating some sort of behind-the-scenes deception process,
which suggests to me now that they were stringing MPs along in order to preserve the robustness of Horizon, the existence of Horizon, and possibly the existence of the Post Office.
That is what I know now,
but I didn’t know that at the time.”
6 Gareth Jenkins not telling the court
Post Office Board knew about Horizon system flaws and exclusive document show insurers were alerted
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18 jan 2024
As the Post Office Inquiry continues to hear testimony, more and more details are coming to light about who knew what when.
Back in 2019, the Post Office spent at least a-hundred-million pounds still defending the Horizon system when more than five hundred subpostmasters won their landmark settlement.
Tonight, we’ve seen documents that appear to show that the Post Office Board was aware of the Horizon system’s failures back in 2013 – indeed it was so worried about a potential miscarriage of justice that it alerted its insurers.
‘I don’t like the word tamper!’ | Post Office IT Horizon Scandal. Richard Christou – 19 June 2024
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Gareth Jenkins Fujitsu Horizon System Architect
7 Worse than you Know
The British Post Office Scandal: Worse than you Know
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How are lawyers involved in the PO Scandal
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Educational
Educational
8 Psychology, Plagiarism and the Post Office Scandal
Psychology, Plagiarism and the Post Office Scandal Part 1
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Psychology, Plagiarism and the Post Office Scandal Part 2
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This is the second of my four part series looking at the post office scandal. In this video I talk a bit about the history of the Post Office and why the public got so angry about the scandal.
This will set us up for part 3 where I talk about the inquiry into the scandal and part 4 where I connect to psychology and how we teach at university.
00:00 – Start
02:30 – Full Blooded Anger: The public response
Psychology, Plagiarism and the Post Office Scandal Part 3
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24 feb 2024
This is the third of my four part series looking at the post office scandal. In this video I talk a bit more about who sub postmasters are, a bit more about what the Horizon system was and how one sub postmaster pushed back.
This is the final piece of the jigsaw and prepares us for part 4 where I connect to psychology and how we teach at university.
00:00 – Start
04:10 – What is a sub postmaster
08:09 – The Horizon System
Psychology, Plagiarism and the Post Office Scandal Part 4 (finale)
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11 mrt 2024 #postofficescandal #postoffice #plagiarism
00:00 – Start
01:13 – Thinking Critically
02:26 – The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act
06:02 – The Post Office Legacy – Crime Fighters
09:06 – Lesson 1: a different type of critical thinking
14:01 – Lesson 2: a different type of plagiarism
21:49 – The Exception: kinda
31:41 – Our Moral Response: How psychology gets in the way
Article in Personnel Today by Adam McCulluch on the Post Office
https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/gro…
UK Post Office Scandal – Vennells vs van den Bogerd: professionalism?
10 jun 2024
I contrast the performances of Paula Vennells and Angelda van den Bogerd at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and reflect on what their behaviour tells us about professionalism. I consider how their particular version of professionalism impacted the UK post office scandal.
00:00 – Start
01:46 – Blaming the Victim: Community and Critical Psychology
02:13 – Paula Vennells: The performance
03:45 – Giving nothing away
05:42 – The meanings of professionalism
08:56 – Is it wrong to be objective?
11:26 – Final word from Sir Wyn Williams
Can I get your Number!?
18 mei 2021
I don’t think this worked… What would you do!?