Yahoo News Post Office ‘used Orwellian language to describe Horizon issues’
Post Office chiefs used Orwellian language to describe Horizon issues, the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry heard.
On Tuesday the inquiry was told changing language around system “bugs” for the less emotive alternative “exception” came on the back of advice from the husband of then chief executive Paula Vennells.
An email from Vennells to Mark R Davies, the organisation’s former communications director, which was shown to the inquiry, said: “My engineer/computer literate husband sent the following reply to the question: ‘What is a non-emotive word for computer bugs, glitches, defects that happen as a matter of course?’
“Answer: ‘Exception or anomaly. You can also say conditional exception/anomaly which only manifests itself under unforeseen circumstances xx.”
When asked if the change amounted to “smoke and mirrors tactics”, Susan Crichton, the Post Office’s former most senior in-house lawyer, said: “It certainly reads that way, yes.”
The counsel to the inquiry then criticised the move as “absolutely Orwellian”.
The faulty software resulted in the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, some of whom received jail sentences.
04:11 PM BST
The inquiry has ended for the day
As inquiry chair Sir Wyn Williams wrapped up the evidence for the day, he was reminded by inquiry counsel that today marks three years since the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of 39 subpostmasters.
The court held on April 23, 2021, that the private prosecutions had been “an affront to justice”.
Sir Wyn said: “I have no doubt that as each year goes by, never mind three years, that will be something which is always embedded in the minds of many people.”
The inquiry will resume at 9.45am on Wednesday where questioning of Ms Crichton will recommence.
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04:03 PM BST
Vennells claimed Crichton was more loyal to professional conduct than Post Office
Paula Vennells said Ms Crichton was “possibly more loyal to her professional conduct requirements” than she was to the Post Office, over the Second Sight report.
In a note on a meeting between Ms Vennells and Ms Crichton that took place in a Costa Coffee shop in September 2013, Ms Vennells wrote: “My reflection on what happened with SS (Second Sight) as I write this today (2/9/13), is that Susan was possibly more loyal to her professional conduct requirements and put her integrity as a lawyer anova the interests of the business.
She added: “She did not communicate clearly what she was concerned about”.
If as she says she felt compromised (personally and for the business) by being asked to manage SS more closely, then her misjudgement was that she did not make that clearer to me on the two or three occasions that I asked her to do so.”
Ms Vennells said in her note that Ms Crichton was “very very angry” and described how she “yelled at her”, adding: “She thinks this has damaged her reputation”.
Asked about this note during her evidence, Ms Crichton told the inquiry she found it “quite shocking” and “distressing”, adding “I must have been in a really bad state”.
03:18 PM BST
Post Office attempted to destroy materials related to Horizon after second sight report
It was suggested that the Post Office was trying to destroy documentary material, such as minutes of meetings, related to calls about Horizon in July 2013, following the Second Sight report.
In a note by Simon Clarke, a barrister and senior counsel at Cartwright King, which acted for the Post Office on its private prosecutions, he said he had been told that “handwritten minutes were to be typed and should be forwarded to POL Head of Security.”
He added in the note: “Advice has been given to POL which I report as relayed to me verbatim: “If it’s not minuted it’s not in the public domain and therefore not disclosable.”
“If it’s produced its available for disclosure - if not minuted then technically it’s not.”
03:13 PM BST
Accountancy firm investigation posed serious risk to reputation of Post Office
The inquiry was shown a note from a meeting where Alice Perkins, the then chair of the Post Office, spoke of the “very serious” risk to the organisation’s “national reputation” as a result of the interim report by Second Sight.
The report, published on July 8 2013, identified computer bugs that raised doubts over the reliability of Horizon data used to prosecute sub-postmasters.
Ms Perkins also referred to the possibility of the report affecting the company’s “funding negotiations” with the Government.
There was also concern among board members in the meeting that they could be held personally liable over the findings of the Second Sight report.
02:53 PM BST
Crichton says Vennells’ criticism of her unfair
Addressing Paula Vennells’ criticism of her as “not organised or structured nor is she a leader”, Ms Crichton said she does not consider them to be “fair”.
“I have held a number of senior roles during my career and these are not criticisms I have ever faced from colleagues,” she wrote in her witness statement to the inquiry. “The criticisms are surprising to me and particularly so as, in my POL performance review for the year 2013 (which would have been held a few weeks before this email), I received a score of four, which indicated high achievement (with five being the top grade).
“Regarding Ms Vennells’ basis for these comments, I do not know what the basis was.”
She added: “In respect of whether I consider these criticisms to be fair with hindsight, on reflection I think that, at the time, I was in a position where I was stretched too thinly. With hindsight, I would not have taken on the additional responsibility of HR.”
02:46 PM BST
Vennells said Crichton was not ‘organised’ or a ‘leader’
In the same memo, Ms Vennells described her then colleague Ms Crichton as “not organised or structured nor is she a leader”, adding that her future was to be reviewed two months later.
Ms Crichton, when asked by counsel to the inquiry about this, said she was “not surprised” to read this
02:35 PM BST
Crichton fewlt like a ‘scapegoat’ after being left out of board meeting
Ms Crichton told Paula Vennells she felt she was being treated as a “scapegoat” after she was left standing outside a board meeting during which Second Sight was discussed.
In a note about a meeting she had had with Ms Crichton on July 31 2013, Ms Vennells wrote: “She said she had been very unhappy about being kept outside the Board meeting for an hour and then told that her presence was not required. She said she was not prepared to be treated as a ‘scapegoat’.
“I said that I hoped she knew me and the Board well enough to know that we were not interested in finding scapegoats. That was not my approach and no-one had it in mind to make her into one.”
Ms Vennells added in the note that she had apologised to Ms Crichton “for the fact that she must have felt very uncomfortable outside the Boardroom”, saying that the board had introduced the agenda item on Second Sight privately and “it had not been appropriate at any point to bring her in”.
02:25 PM BST
Recap
Here is a recap of what has happened so far today:
Susan Crichton, the Post Office’s former most senior in-house lawyer, opened with an apology to Horizon IT scandal victims
Ms Crichton told the inquiry she was not aware of issues relating to the Horizon system prior to October 2010
The inquiry was shown an email by a Post Office lawyer which claimed the prosecution of a pregnant postmistress may help deter “Horizon bashing”
Post Office chiefs sought to change the language around “bugs” in the Horizon system to make it “less emotive”
02:09 PM BST
Inquiry resumes
After a lunch break, the inquiry has recommenced.
Inquiry counsel Blake has begun by showing a letter from Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of Post Office.
01:10 PM BST
Inquiry breaks for lunch
The inquiry has taken a break for lunch.
01:00 PM BST
Post Office wanted to fire accountants investigating Horizon issues
A briefing note of a meeting with the Post Office board from 2013, shown to the inquiry, reveals the organisation wanted to sack forensic accountants Second Sight, who had been tasked with investigating issues Horizon system, after its interim report.
Second Sight submitted its interim report, identifying computer bugs that raised doubts over the reliability of Horizon data used to prosecute sub-postmasters, on July 8 2013.
However, at a meeting on July 10, two days later, the Post Office board expressed that they wanted to sack Second Sight.
Minutes of the meeting, shown to the inquiry, read: “The board want to sack SS (Second Sight) and of course are now not coping well with the fact that they are independent.”
The briefing note added that there was a “generally defensive air” at the meeting and the board were feeling “bruised”.
“There are tensions between people and that includes Alice Perkins (the Chair), Paula Vennells (CEO) and in SC (Susan Crichton),” it added.
The Post Office subsequently terminated its contract with Second Sight in March 2015.
12:10 PM BST
Element of ‘smoke and mirrors’ to language changes around bugs in Post Office
Ms Crichton agreed, when asked by counsel the inquiry about the Post Office deliberately using the term “exceptions” rather than “bugs” when talking about Horizon, that there was “certainly an element of smoke and mirrors about the whole thing”.
“It certainly reads that way, yes”, she replied.
12:05 PM BST
‘Exceptions’ replaced ‘bugs’ when referring to Horizon defects
The Post Office subsequently began using the word “exception” instead of “bug” in official documents, on the advice of Ms Vennells husband - something which counsel to the inquiry criticised as “absolutely Orwellian”.
12:04 PM BST
Post Office sought to make language around ‘bugs’ less emotive
Post Office chiefs sought to change the language around “bugs” in the Horizon system to make it “less emotive”, the Inquiry heard.
The hearing was shown an email from Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office, to Mark R Davies, the organisation’s former Communications Director, in 2013, in which she wrote: “My engineer/computer literate husband sent the following reply to the question: ‘What is a non-emotive word for computer bugs, glitches, defects that happen as a matter of course?’
“Answer: ‘Exception or anomaly. You can also say conditional exception/anomaly which only manifests itself under unforeseen circumstances xx”
She asked: “Does that help?”, adding: “(The xx was for me I think!)
Mr Davies responded: “I like exception v much”.
When asked about the Post Office changing language around Horizon issues, Susan Crichton said in her evidence that she did not recall this.
11:20 AM BST
Crichton ‘tried to stop prosecutions reliant on Horizon evidence’
Ms Crichton said she “made it clear that no further prosecutions” should be reliant on Horizon evidence alone.
She told the inquiry she wanted Post Office teams to be aware “they had a duty” to review evidence.
She said: “I was trying to heighten people’s awareness about what we were doing.
“It was for [the Post Office] to really try and understand what had happened in the branches and why the sub-postmasters, if sub-postmaster were the issue, had got into this situation.”
11:11 AM BST
Inquiry resumes
After a brief break, the inquiry has resumed.
10:58 AM BST
Inquiry takes break
The inquiry is taking a 10 minute break and is expected to resume at around 11.05am.
10:47 AM BST
Convicting postmaster hoped to curb ‘Horizon bashing’
The prosecution of a pregnant postmistress would help deter “Horizon bashing”, a Post Office lawyer suggested.
Seema Misra, a former sub-postmaster, was eight weeks pregnant when found guilty of false accounting and theft in 2010.
An email from Jarnail Singh, a Post Office lawyer, referring to Ms Misra was shown to the inquiry on Tuesday. It said: “It is hoped the case will set a marker to dissuade other defendants from jumping on the Horizon bashing bandwagon.”
Crichton confirmed she received the email in Oct 2010, but claimed she didn’t remember any further discussions around the case.
Mrs Misra had run a post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, for less than three years when her accounts were found to have a £74,600 shortfall as a result of faulty Horizon software. She endured a two-year long investigation that included having her house searched and served more than four months in prison.
10:38 AM BST
Email shown at inquiry says decision not to prosecute “may result in copulation”
The inquiry was shown an email exchange in which a senior Post Office lawyer said a decision not to prosecute sub-postmasters would “send a green light” for subpostmasters to “get hold of their MP and result in copulation” (sic).
Ms Crichton sent an email in June 2012 to her colleague Jarnail Singh, a senior in-house lawyer for the Post Office, asking: “If we decide not to go ahead with criminal prosecutions are there any risks for the Post Office?”
Mr Singh responded: “Post Office Prosecution Ltd must be seen to exercise its judgment in all cases which give rise to criminal proceedings to promote effective consistent and fair decision-making. If not, a third-party examination of our cases, by say the DPP, may result in our withdrawal to prosecute.”
He added in the email: “Decision not to prosecute can not be kept secret everybody will find out what we are doing this may open PO to criticism and undermine faith in Horizon.
“This U turn will be exploited by potential third party sub postmaster’s alliance. It may send a green light for defendants to get hold of their MP and result in copulation.”
The Inquiry hearing room erupted in laughter as this was read out by counsel to the Inquiry, Julian Blake.
10:31 AM BST
Crichton direct report to Vennells
Inquiry counsel Blake has confirmed that Susan Crichton was a direct report to chief executive Paula Vennells.
Crichton later confirmed she was responsible for the security team in 2012.
10:05 AM BST
Crichton not aware of Horizon issues before 2010
Ms Crichton told the inquiry she was not aware of issues relating to the Horizon system prior to October 2010.
“I don’t think I was,” was her response when asked by Julian Blake, counsel to the inquiry, if she was “aware of issues relating to the Horizon system and litigation challenging the Horizon system earlier than October 2010”.
09:53 AM BST
Crichton apologises to those affected by Horizon scandal
Susan Crichton, the Post Office’s former most senior in-house lawyer, has apologised to Horizon IT scandal victims.
She told the inquiry on Tuesday: “I want to begin by saying to all those that suffered that I am truly sorry for the suffering caused to you and your families.
“I wish that things had been resolved more quickly, and again, I’m very sorry that they haven’t been.
“I’m here today to give my evidence to the inquiry establishing the facts and to try and ensure that something like this never happens again, thank you.”
Faulty Horizon software resulted in the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmaster
09:50 AM BST
Inquiry begins
The Post Office inquiry has begun. Susan Crichton has been sworn in ahead of giving evidence.
09:46 AM BST
Crichton arrives at inquiry
Susan Crichton has arrived at the inquiry ahead of questioning today.
09:42 AM BST
Who is Susan Crichton?
Susan Crichton was the Post Office’s general counsel between 2010 and 2013.
During her time at the Post Office the business brought prosecutions against sub-postmasters despite concerns surrounding the Horizon software.
Chris Aujard, Crichton’s successor, is set to appear at the inquiry on Wednesday.
09:30 AM BST
Crichton to be questioned over Horizon remote access recording
A recording from 2013 unearthed earlier this year shows Susan Crichton confirm that Paula Vennells, the former Post Office chief executive, had been briefed about a “covert operations team” that could remotely access the Horizon system and adjust branches’ accounts.
It is expected that Ms Crichton will be asked about the recording, which was unearthed by Channel 4 news, in her evidence today (Tues).
It suggests Ms Vennells was aware of claims that remote access to branch accounts was possible two years before prosecutions were halted against Post Office operators.
09:26 AM BST
Good morning and welcome
Welcome to The Telegraph’s live coverage of the Post Office inquiry.
Susan Crichton, the Post Office’s former most senior in-house lawyer, is expected to give evidence.
Last week, Rodric Williams, a legal chief for the Post Office told the inquiry he was not proud to work for the organisation in the wake of the Horizon scandal.
Follow this blog for the latest updates.
