A former top barrister who was paid by the Post Office to review subpostmasters’ convictions knew about a “tainted witness,” but failed to investigate the matter, report it to the police, or disclose it to defendants. Brian Altman KC appeared before the Post Office Horizon inquiry on Wednesday, stating that he “didn’t turn a blind eye to anything” but admitted that Post Office should have disclosed the information to subpostmasters after a tainted witness was found. Altman knew from his appointment in August 2013 that an expert witness, Gareth Jenkins, had failed to disclose information about bugs in the Horizon IT system to defendants.
This information was significant since it could have helped subpostmasters who had previously been found guilty challenge their convictions. Soon after his appointment, Altman read formal legal advice from Simon Clarke, a barrister with law firm Cartright King, which emphasized that Gareth Jenkins had breached his duties as an expert, and that it might be disclosable to subpostmasters convicted of theft and false accounting. However, Altman failed to advise the Post Office to investigate the evidence and did not meet with Mr. Jenkins.
The inquiry saw evidence that Altman changed the terms of reference of his review to remove issues related to Gareth Jenkins’ evidence and avoided meeting him. He wrote to fellow lawyers for the Post Office at Bond Dickenson that he knew that not meeting Jenkins “risks exposing the final report [of his review of convictions] to criticism.” Altman explained that he had not yet resolved to see Jenkins and that there was no point in adding him to the terms of reference.
When asked why he had not advised the Post Office, which should investigate why Mr. Jenkins had given misleading evidence, Altman responded that his advice only concerned the impact of that failure on the prosecutions and convictions and not the reasons why he had failed to do so. Mr. Altman also admitted he did not ask whether Mr. Jenkins had been properly instructed by the Post Office on his duties as an expert witness.
The inquiry saw evidence that Post Office lawyers were interested in hiring Altman due to his political connections and because he “had the ear” of the Attorney General’s office. Post Office lawyers Rod Williams and Gavin Matthews discussed on 25 July 2013 how Altman was an ideal candidate to review subpostmasters’ convictions because he was “clearly [very] alive to the political dimension.” The inquiry continues
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