Post Office 'acted like mafia', Horizon IT inquiry hears, as investigator admits not being 'technically minded'
11 January 2024, 12:42 | Updated: 11 January 2024, 12:52
Post Office investigators who wrongfully pursued convictions of sub-postmasters "acted like mafia gangsters", the Horizon inquiry has heard.
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Evidence submitted to the inquiry showed that Post Office lead investigator Stephen Bradshaw accused a sub-postmistress who was being probed over a £50,000 shortfall in her accounts of telling him "a pack of lies".
Jacqueline McDonald, who denied stealing the money and told him she didn't know where it was, said that investigators behaved "like mafia gangsters looking to collect their bounty with the threats and lies". She was wrongfully jailed, before her conviction was overturned in 2021.
Mr Bradshaw said this was not the case, according to the witness statement he submitted to the Post Office Horizon inquiry, which he submitted in June 2023. The statement was partially written by Post Office press officers and a law firm.
The inquiry was set up in 2021 to gather evidence into the failings of the Post Office's Horizon IT system. Errors with the system led to hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses being wrongly accused of stealing money.
Read more: Post Office compensation 'should be paid by August', minister says, as 130 more victims come forward
The inquiry resumed on Thursday, after Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that a law will be passed exonerating and compensating all those wrongly accused. £1 billion has been set aside for compensation payments, Downing Street confirmed on Thursday afternoon.
Mr Bradshaw, who was involved in the prosecution of nine sub-postmasters, has a "heavy footprint" in the scandal, according to the inquiry's lead counsel Jason Beer KC.
When asked why he didn't question the reliability of the system, given so many sub-postmasters were reporting errors, Mr Bradshaw claimed he was "not technically-minded".
"I would expect that to come from the people above," he told the inquiry.
"If there was an issue, I would expect Fujitsu to inform the Post Office and the Post Office to let us know what the issues are."
He said he was first aware of the issues from 2010, but admitted that "some may have mentioned it earlier".
The inquiry previously heard that the Post Office handed out bonuses in return for convictions in the Horizon scandal.
Investigators were offered cash bonuses for every sub-postmaster convicted, with the scheme being described as “part of the business."
But Mr Bradshaw denied this, although he admitted that bonuses were paid according to "how well you do your job".
Nick Ferrari and this caller agree that the Post Office scandal is 'disgusting'
He told the inquiry that success in prosecutions did not affect the size of a bonus, adding: "I'm paid whether one case is done or a thousand cases".
Pressed on whether an investigator might get a bigger bonus if they were considered to have "protected the business", he replied: "It may do, and it may not do."
It comes after Gary Thomas, from the Post Office security team, told the inquiry on Wednesday that there were “bonus objectives”.
When asked if it influenced decisions, he said: “I’d probably be lying if I said no because… it was part of the business, the culture of the business of recoveries or even under the terms of a postmaster’s contract with the contracts manager.”
In a 2021 email sent from Mr Thomas to Post Office boss Nick Read, he wrote: "My yearly objectives that were bonus worthy at the time were based on numbers of successful prosecutions and recovery amounts of money to the business.”
Former postmaster Alan Bates, who was the focus of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, said the offering of financial incentives for prosecutions was “appalling”.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk says 'some guilty people will be acquitted' in Post Office scandal
Mr Bradshaw also told the inquiry that throughout his entire time working at the post office he was not told of any issues and insisted all investigations were “done correctly.”
Mr Bradshaw told the inquiry: "I had no reason to suspect at the time that there was anything wrong with the Horizon system because we had not been told."
He signed a statement in 2012 saying that the Post Office was confident in the “integrity” of the Horizon system - but the inquiry heard that the statement was written by lawyers.
The revelation comes after Rishi Sunak confirmed new legislation will be brought in to "exonerate and compensate" wrongly convicted postmasters during the scandal.
But some postmasters have said they will continue their battle after an initial offer of just £75,000 in compensation for those who were made to pay back cash despite not being convicted of any offence.
Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said the £75,000 would offer immediate help to people with smaller claims but acknowledged that for many it would not be enough. Around a third are expected to take the payment, with others likely to seek a higher offer, a Downing Street spokesperson said. "And our aim is to resolve that by the summer," they added.
Speaking at the start of Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said: "We will make sure that the truth comes to light, we right the wrongs of the past and the victims get the justice they deserve."
Mr Bates said the decision was "a leap forward" but warned campaigners to see the "devil in the detail", according to the Mail.
He said those with larger claims were the ones who needed their cases resolved.
"Don't forget they lost their houses, their businesses, their earning capacity for many, many years as well – a number of them cashed in pensions and all sorts," he said.
Following Wednesday's announcement, leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer praised the Prime Minister's plans, labelling the scandal a "huge injustice".
"People lost their lives, their liberty and their livelihood - and they've been waiting far too long for truth, for justice, for compensation," the Labour leader said.
Sir Keir added that he was "glad" that Mr Sunak was putting together a proposal to exonerate and compensate the victims.
Read More: Ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells was 'shortlisted to be Bishop of London'
Mr Hollinrake later admitted to the House of Commons that some postmasters who were actually guilty could have their convictions overturned.
"I cannot tell the house that all of those were innocent... we just do not know how many," Mr Hollinrake said.
He went on: "We want to avoid guilty people walking away with hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money.... but we cannot turn this into an administrative exercise.
"As part of their claim they will sign a statement to say they did not commit the crimes."
When asked whether Fujitsu - the firm behind the faulty Horizon accounting software - should pay towards the Post Office compensation scheme, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk previously told LBC: "Polluters should pay, in simple terms.
"Now, the reason why this has to take its course is because Sir Wyn Williams is the independent judge who's considering this, and indeed, he's been considering it since 2021.
"This is a huge issue that's taken a considerable period of time, he expects to conclude his report later this year. And of course, that is going to want to consider the culpability of all the principal actors, including Fujitsu who are the authors of the Horizon system.
"It is, however, important for that to take its course. So that report having been concluded, other authorities be the police or other investigators might make a decision on where the evidence should take them.
"That will be the moment for accountability to really bite."
The Mr Bates vs The Post Office drama, which has drawn attention to the scandal, gripped the nation last week, bringing a series of key figures who presided over the scandal back into the limelight.
It included the former Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells, who was in charge when the Post Office led a campaign of wrongful prosecutions.
