Expert Denies Protecting Post Office Horizon System in Trial of Wrongfully Convicted Sub-Postmaster
A former senior Fujitsu engineer, Gareth Jenkins, has denied allegations of protecting the Post Office Horizon IT system in the trial of Seema Misra, a sub-postmaster who was wrongly convicted while pregnant. Jenkins, an expert on the Post Office Horizon system, gave evidence at the Post Office Inquiry, stating that he did not hide any glitches in the branch accounting system during Mrs. Misra’s trial in 2010. This trial was considered a crucial test case at the time and resulted in Mrs. Misra being jailed for 15 months based on Jenkins’ expert testimony.
On his fourth day of testimony at the inquiry, Jenkins maintained that he was telling the truth about his knowledge of Horizon glitches when questioned by Mrs. Misra’s lawyer, Flora Page. In her line of questioning, Ms. Page referred to Horizon as an “out of control monster” by the time of her client’s trial and suggested that Jenkins knew of its harmful effects. Jenkins responded by stating that he did not share this sentiment.
Ms. Page further accused Jenkins of “throwing mud in the jury’s eyes” and failing to disclose crucial information about known errors in the Horizon system. Jenkins denied these allegations, stating that he did not believe he deliberately hid anything.
During the trial, Ms. Page had asked Jenkins if he was aware of any problems with the Horizon system, to which he responded that he was not. In hindsight, Ms. Page argued that the truthful answer would have been a list of issues and problems, including cash accounts, remote access, tampering, bad error handling, silent faults, hardware failures, and more. Jenkins countered by stating that he did not understand the question to be asking for a list of issues.
Ms. Page also questioned Jenkins about his duties as an expert witness and accused him of failing to disclose information in order to protect the Post Office Horizon system. Jenkins, who is currently under investigation for alleged perjury, stated that he did not believe he deliberately hid anything and that he was not aware of his duties as an impartial expert witness until 2020.
In his witness statement, Jenkins also claimed that the Post Office had pressured him to support their case. He stated that Post Office lawyer Warwick Tatford had reviewed his draft witness statement and suggested that he make some points more strongly in favor of the Post Office. However, Jenkins stated that he believed this was normal practice and that he did not understand his duties as an expert witness until 2020.
When questioned about where the blame lies for Mrs. Misra’s wrongful conviction, Jenkins pointed to the Post Office’s behavior rather than any faults in the Horizon system. He maintained that he told the truth as he understood it at the time and denied allegations of protecting the system.
During his testimony, Jenkins expressed regret for what happened to Mrs. Misra. However, she has stated that she does not accept his apology. The inquiry into the Post Office Horizon system is ongoing and is expected to lay out findings in the autumn.