In a shock move, the Post Office has questioned the impartiality of the judge overseeing the High Court trial about its controversial Horizon IT system and called for him to be removed from the case.
The trial has been suspended until 3 April, to allow the Post Office to make its application, and for the claimants in the case to oppose the claim. If the application is granted, the trial would have to start again with a different judge. The suspension came as expert witnesses for both parties were next to take the stand for cross-examination.
The claim by the Post Office is based on a witness statement submitted by a solicitor from the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, who was involved in a working group set up to oversee a mediation scheme between the Post Office and subpostmasters who claim that problems with Horizon caused financial shortfalls for which they were blamed.
The independent working group was shut down by the Post Office in 2015, the day before it was due to receive a final report from forensic investigation company Second Sight about the alleged IT problems.
The latest move follows the ruling last week on the first trial in the subpostmasters’ case, where the judge came out overwhelmingly in favour of the claimants. The witness, Andy Parsons, claimed that Judge Fraser’s ruling suggested hostility to the Post Office and that he had already formed an opinion on the matters yet to be discussed in the current and future trials – there are expected to be four trials in total.
The accusation from the Post Office came as a surprise even to its own legal team in the High Court, where the Queen’s Council (QC) representing the organisation was unaware the claim had been submitted until it was revealed in court.
The first trial covered the contractual relationship between the Post Office and subpostmasters. Judge Fraser found there was a culture of secrecy and confidentiality generally in the Post Office, but particularly around the Horizon accounting and retail system which subpostmasters use to run the branches.
The judge’s criticisms of the Post Office included “oppressive behaviour” when demanding sums of money that could not be accounted for by subpostmasters.
“The Post Office describes itself on its own website as ‘the nation’s most trusted brand’. So far as these claimants, and the subject matter of this group litigation, are concerned, this might be thought to be wholly wishful thinking,” Fraser said in the ruling.
The judge also accused the Post Office’s most senior witness, director Angela van den Bogerd, of deliberately misleading him, saying there were two specific matters where she “did not give me frank evidence, and sought to obfuscate matters, and mislead me”.
This second trial is examining the Horizon IT system.
The plight of some subpostmasters was first reported in 2009, when Computer Weekly revealed that the lives of some subpostmasters were turned upside-down as a result of being fined, sacked, made bankrupt and even imprisoned because of unexplained accounting shortfalls. Some claimants were sent to prison, one while pregnant. They blame the accounting and retail system they use, known as Horizon, for the problems. The Post Office denies this.
Horizon, which was introduced in 1999/2000, is used by nearly 12,000 post office branches. Subpostmasters are held liable for any unexplained losses (see timeline below).
Its nothing more than a delaying tactics.
I remember the REM11 case in the 80s, RM legal team kept putting up road blocks in the hope of wearing down the Union team. It didn't work.
Hope the former Postmasters are more successful.