David Miller, a former Post Office chief operations officer, has expressed regret for not reading an IT expert’s report that identified deficiencies in the Horizon IT system. Speaking at a public inquiry into the Horizon scandal, Miller said that he could have taken action to resolve the problems raised in the report had he read it. The report was commissioned by the Post Office as part of a civil case against sub-postmistress Julie Wolstenholme, who was pursued for £25,000. When the IT expert raised discrepancies in the software, he was “effectively sacked” and the Post Office “attempted to discredit the report internally,” according to the expert. Miller, who had been in charge of installing the Horizon system, also acknowledged that he should not have described the system as robust to the Post Office board in 1999.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office used data from the faulty Horizon system to prosecute more than 700 sub-postmasters. Many had difficulty balancing accounts during a live trial of the system in May 1999. Miller was aware of issues arising from the Horizon system during testing in March of the same year, and of concerns about “accounting integrity issues” flagged by auditors EY during a wider Horizon trial in August. Miller told the inquiry that he believed processes were in place to improve the system following feedback from sub-postmasters. He also expressed remorse for failing to inform attorneys and investigators about issues affecting the system in early 2000.
Miller suggested that had Wolstenholme won an appeal against the Post Office for unfair dismissal in 2002, the company’s business model would have faced a significant challenge. Despite acknowledging the potential for a conflict of interest, Miller commented that he had recognised since 1970 that the Post Office undertook its own investigations and prosecutions. The Horizon scandal is regarded as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
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