Postmasters in the Horizon IT scandal inquiry are suffering from delays as Post Office (PO) is accused of losing 363,000 emails relevant to evidence.
Two key witnesses, former postmasters Stephen Bradshaw and Dave Posnett, have seen their hearings postponed in the Post Office (PO) Horizon scandal inquiry due to potential evidence being lost.
During the public hearing on 7 November, it was revealed by barrister Jason Beer that the PO has identified 363,000 emails from after 2012 that had previously been missed due to a platform transfer. The company has said this blunder was made due to its switching from Microsoft Exchange email system to Mimecast.
The Chair of the hearing has accepted Bradshaw and Posnett can no longer give evidence this week – further delaying the hearing which has been ongoing for years now. There is no indication as to when the inquiry will conclude.
While there is still “a pool of some 22,000 documents to be looked at” on behalf of Posnett, there are “approximately two million documents” to be reviewed on behalf of Bradshaw.
A lawyer on behalf of PO said she cannot explain what has gone wrong, but it is a “deeply technical and complicated question for which there has yet not been identified a simple answer”.
Beer added: “This is, of course, the latest in a series of disclosure failings by the Post Office. They may be forgotten to many. They’re etched in the memory of those who sit on this side of the room.”
Barrister Christopher Jacobs, on behalf of the Horizon scandal victims, said there “seems to be a pattern emerging” whereby the PO informs the inquiry that new disclosure has become available.
It is the second time “abuses of the disclosure process” have been committed by the PO, said Jacobs.
In October 2022, the PO was accused of failing to disclose over 30,000 documents to the Horizon IT scandal inquiry.
Jacobs said: “The perception from our client group is that the Post Office is seeking to control these proceedings through the disclosure process.”
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