Post Office Horizon Inquiry Reveals Inaccurate Evidence Contributed to Wrongful Conviction
An auditor’s “inaccurate” statement to the High Court played a significant role in the bankruptcy of a subpostmaster, as revealed during the Post Office Horizon Inquiry. Helen Rose, an auditor between 1999 and 2004, gave a signed witness statement in 2006 which painted subpostmaster Lee Castleton as “sloppy and slapdash” during civil proceedings involving a £25,000 shortfall at his Bridlington, East Yorkshire branch.
However, an audit conducted in March 2004 by Ms Rose contradicted these claims, recording that Castleton had properly locked the safe and removed the key, contrary to her court statement which suggested the opposite. The inquiry heard that Castleton was made bankrupt after losing his legal battle with the Post Office, based partly on this inaccurate evidence.
Under questioning from the inquiry’s counsel, Jason Beer KC, and the chairman, Sir Wyn Williams, Ms Rose admitted she could not explain why the false information had been included in her statement. “I don’t have an explanation as to why that wasn’t taken out,” she said, when asked why the discrepancy was not noticed.
Further discrepancies emerged when Ms Rose was questioned about other parts of her statement. For example, she mentioned that Castleton smelled of alcohol during a lunchtime break, but this detail was not found in the audit notes. When asked how this appeared in her court statement, she replied, “I don’t know. It must have been a comment I felt necessary to mention but I can’t remember it.”
The inquiry also highlighted parts of the audit that could have helped Castleton, such as the fact he was “very pleased” to see the auditors and had been in regular contact with the Horizon helpline. These details were excluded from the witness statement, raising further questions about the integrity of the evidence presented in the case.
The Post Office Horizon scandal, one of the UK’s largest miscarriages of justice, involved more than 700 subpostmasters who were wrongfully convicted due to faults in the Fujitsu accounting software. The Government has since overturned 86 convictions, with £21 million in compensation paid out. On Monday, the Government also announced that subpostmasters wrongfully convicted will be offered £600,000 to settle their claims.
