A former Post Office head, Tim Parker, has refuted claims that he deliberately kept a report from the Post Office board. The report was authored in 2016 by Jonathan Swift, a former top Treasury lawyer, and raised concerns about the Horizon IT system which was later found to be faulty. Incorrect data from Horizon resulted in the wrongful conviction of 700 sub-postmasters for theft and fraud between 1999 and 2015. Mr. Parker says he didn’t share the report as the Post Office lawyers advised him not to.
Four copies of the report were made, but none were shared with the Post Office board or the government. All sub-postmaster convictions have now been overturned, but many individuals unjustly lost their jobs or were incarcerated. The government commissioned the Swift report from Jonathan Swift, following a BBC Panorama program in 2015. The program raised doubts about the accuracy of evidence against those convicted.
Regarding the report, Mr. Parker said he received legal advice not to share it. However, he regrets this and believes he should have shared it. The top Post Office lawyer Jane MacLeod was the one who advised him to keep the report confidential as it was privileged. The report was deemed confidential the same way as communications between a lawyer and their client. Mr. Parker said he believed the Post Office legal team would take the report’s recommendations forward and denied hiding it for improper motives.
Mr. Parker maintained that he had no vested interest in protecting the Post Office and that he did not implant in his mind motivations that were not fair or right. Looking back, though, he says the advice he received was perhaps misguided. He believed it was the right thing to do at the time, as the people giving him advice were doing so in good faith.
The report cast doubt over claims that data from Horizon couldn’t remotely be altered by Fujitsu. This might have robbed subpostmasters of a key line of defence at their trials. Although the Swift report was supportive of the Post Office in some parts, it acknowledged concerns about the evidence it brought forth
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