Eventful second Post Office Horizon trial ends

The second High Court trial in the multimillion-pound court case brought by hundreds of subpostmasters against the Post Office has come to an end after four months.

The trial concentrated on the Horizon IT system that is at the centre of the dispute. It also saw the managing judge’s written judgment from the first trial made public, and the Post Office attempt to have the trial judge changed.

The second trial was part of a group litigation order (GLO) brought by more than 550 former subpostmasters, who are seeking damages for the suffering they have experienced following unexplained discrepancies in accounts. Some received heavy fines, others had to pay back thousands of pounds in shortfalls, and some were even sent to prison. The subpostmasters blame the Post Office’s Horizon IT system for the errors.

The latest trial, which focused on the technology, began in March and concluded at the beginning of July 2019. Revelations at the trial included the existence of a known errors log that contained thousands of Horizon errors that the Post Office and supplier Fujitsu knew about, but did not inform the subpostmasters network.

One known error, which featured heavily on day one of the trial, was first made public by Computer Weekly in November 2015.

The issue has become known as the Dalmellington case, named after the branch in Scotland where thousands of pounds’ worth of payments were duplicated for one subpostmaster. If undetected, this would have appeared as a loss when the accounts were completed, which would be the responsibility of the subpostmaster.

During the second trial, people who worked with Horizon were called as witnesses. They included Richard Roll, former Fujitsu IT worker and whistleblower, and Torstein Olav Godeseth, Fujitsu’s chief architect working with Post Office Horizon.

On 15 March, the judge presiding in the second trial released his judgment from the first trial, which focused on the contractual relationship between the Post Office and subpostmasters. The judgment weighed heavily in favour of the subpostmaster claimants.

The judge’s criticisms of the Post Office included “oppressive behaviour” when demanding sums of money that could not be accounted for by subpostmasters.

“There can be no excuse, in my judgment, for an entity such as the Post Office to mis-state, in such clearly expressed terms, in letters that threaten legal action, the extent of the contractual obligation upon a [subpostmaster] for losses,” said the judge.

Just over a week later, the second trial was suspended when the Post Office shocked the court, including its own QC, by making an application for the judge to recuse himself from the trial, which was made on the grounds of alleged bias. Judge Fraser rejected the application and the Post Office took it to the Court of Appeal, where it was also rejected.

Then, in May, the Post Office’s legal team asked the judge for permission to appeal parts of the judgment from the first trial, which he rejected. In June, the Post Office applied to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the judgment.

Following delays, caused mainly by the recusal application, a new timetable was set for the third trial, originally planned for November this year, but now due to start on 2 March 2020. There is also the possibility of a fourth trial after that.

Also during the second trial, Judge Fraser made an order for the Post Office to pay 90% of the costs that the claimants had incurred in the first trial, amounting to about £5.5m.

The second trial culminated in the cross-examination of the expert witnesses appointed by both sides, and ended on 2 July.

The court battle began on 7 November 2018 with the first trial, which focused on the contractual relationship between the Post Office and the subpostmasters who run its branches. That trial ended after a month, but the dispute itself has been going on for more than a decade.

The plight of some subpostmasters was first reported in 2009, when Computer Weekly revealed that the lives of some of them had been turned upside-down after being fined, sacked, made bankrupt or even imprisoned because of unexplained accounting shortfalls. They blamed the Horizon accounting and retail system for the problems, but the Post Office refuted this (see timeline below).

As the second trial drew to a close, Computer Weekly revealed another error, which the Communication Workers Union (CWU) believes is a possible variant of the Dalmellington bug. The error, in what is known as the automatic REM (remittance) process, which the Post Office has admitted, caused a subpostmaster to be £18,000 in surplus.

In response to an email from the subpostmaster, Post Office operations director Julie Thomas acknowledged the issue. “We are currently going through a process of identifying the specific branches impacted so that we can contact them,” Thomas said in an email response to the subpostmaster. “We want to be absolutely sure that all branches are aware of the issue and can notify us if they believe they may have been impacted.”

Judge Fraser’s written judgment fromr the second trial is expected to be issued in early October.

The case continues.

Timeline of the Post Office Horizon case since Computer Weekly first reported on it in 2009

• May 2009: Bankruptcy, prosecution and disrupted livelihoods – postmasters tell their story.
• September 2009: Postmasters form action group after accounts shortfall.
• November 2009: Post Office theft case deferred over IT questions.
• February 2011: Post Office faces legal action over alleged accounting system failures.
• October 2011: 85 subpostmasters seek legal support in claims against Post Office computer system.
• June 2012: Post Office launches external review of system at centre of legal disputes.
• January 2013: Post Office admits Horizon system needs more investigation.
• January 2013: Post Office announces amnesty for Horizon evidence.
• January 2013: Post Office wants to get to bottom of IT system allegations.
• June 2013: Investigation into Post Office accounting system to drill down on strongest cases.
• July 2013: Post Office Horizon system investigation reveals concerns.
• October 2013: End in sight for subpostmaster claims against Post Office’s Horizon accounting system.
• October 2013: Former Lord Justice of Appeal Hooper joins Post Office Horizon investigation.
• November 2013: 150 subpostmasters file claims over ‘faulty’ Horizon accounting system.
• September 2014: Fresh questions raised over Post Office IT system’s role in fraud cases.
• December 2014: MPs blast Post Office over IT system investigation and remove backing.
• December 2014: Why MPs lost faith in the Post Office’s IT investigation, but vowed to fight on.
• December 2014: MPs to debate subpostmaster IT injustice claims.
• December 2014: MP accuses Post Office of acting “duplicitously” in IT investigation.
• January 2015: MPs force inquiry into Post Office subpostmaster mediation scheme.
• January 2015: Post Office faces grilling by MPs over Horizon accounting system.
• February 2015: Post Office CIO will talk to any subpostmaster about IT problems, promises CEO.
• March 2015: Post Office ends working group for IT system investigation day before potentially damaging report.
• March 2015: MPs seek reassurance over Post Office mediation scheme.
• March 2015: Retiring MP aims to uncover truth of alleged Post Office computer system problems.
• April 2015: Post Office failed to investigate account shortfalls before legal action, report claims.
• April 2015: Criminal Courts Review Commission set to review subpostmasters’ claims of wrongful prosecution.
• May 2015: IT system related to subpostmaster prosecutions under review by CCRC.
• June 2015: Post Office looking to replace controversial Horizon system with IBM, says MP.
• July 2015: Campaigners call for independent inquiry into Post Office Horizon IT system dispute.
• October 2015: James Arbuthnot takes Post Office IT fight to House of Lords.
• November 2015: The union that represents Post Office subpostmasters has warned of a problem with the Horizon accounting system.
• November 2015: An email from Post Office IT support reveals a problem with the Horizon system and supporting processes that could lead to accounting errors.
• November 2015: Group litigation against Post Office being prepared in Horizon dispute.
• February 2016: Post Office faces group litigation over Horizon IT as subpostmasters fund class action.
• June 2016: Post Office chairman Tim Parker says there would be “considerable risk” associated with changing its Horizon computer system.
• November 2016:The legal team hired by a group of subpostmasters will take their case to the next stage.
• January 2017: The group action against the Post Office that alleges subpostmasters have been wrongly punished for accounting errors gets a green light from the High Court of Justice.
• March 2017: 1,000 subpostmasters apply to join IT-related group litigation against Post Office.
• April 2017: Investigation into claims of miscarriages of justice in relation to a Post Office accounting system has appointed a forensic accountant firm.
• May 2017: Hundreds of subpostmasters have applied to join IT-related legal action since March.
• July 2017: Post Office defence in computer system legal case due this week.
• August 2017: Campaigners submit initial evidence in group litigation against Post Office over controversial Horizon IT system.
• October 2017: Subpostmasters’ group action against the Post Office reaches an important milestone.
• November 2017: An end is in sight for subpostmasters’ campaign against alleged wrongful prosecution, which they blame on a faulty computer system.
• November 2017: The High Court judge managing the subpostmasters versus Post Office legal case over an allegedly faulty computer system tells legal teams to cooperate.
• January 2018: Forensic investigation into Post Office IT system at centre of legal case nears completion.
• April 2018: Criminal Cases Review Commission forensic examination of the IT system at the centre of a legal case against the Post Office has raised further questions.
• May 2018: Post Office branches unable to connect to Horizon computer system for several hours after morning opening time.
• October 2018: After over a decade of controversy, next week marks the beginning of a court battle between subpostmasters and the Post Office.
• November 2018: Case against Post Office in relation to allegedly faulty computer system begins in High Court.
• November 2018: High Court case in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has revealed a known problem with a computer system at the core of the dispute.
• November 2018: A High Court trial, where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office for damages caused by an allegedly faulty IT system, ends second week.
• November 2018: Post Office director admits to Horizon errors and not sharing details with subpostmaster network.
• November 2018: The High Court trial in which subpostmasters are suing the Post Office has reached an important stage.
• December 2018: CCRC may hold off subpostmaster decision until after Post Office Horizon trial.
• December 2018: Court case where subpostmasters are suing the Post Office set to span at least four trials and extend into 2020.
• January 2019: Subpostmasters’ campaign group attacks Post Office CEO Paula Vennells’ New Year honour amid ongoing court case.
• January 2019: Thousands of known errors on controversial Post Office computer system to be revealed.
• March 2019: Tech under spotlight at High Court in second subpostmasters versus Post Office trial.
• March 2019: Post Office considered Horizon IT system “high risk”, court told.
• March 2019: CCRC watching Post Office Horizon trial closely.
• March 2019: Judge rules that Post Office showed “oppressive behaviour” in response to claimants accused of accounting errors they blamed on Horizon IT system.
• March 2019: Post Office ‘lacked humanity’ in the treatment of subpostmasters, says peer.
• March 2019: A High Court judge heard that the Post Office did not investigate a computer system error that could cause losses, despite being offered evidence.
• March 2019: The Post Office legal team in the case brought by more than 500 subpostmasters has called for the judge to be recused after questioning his impartiality.
• March 2019: A senior civil servant asked the Post Office to repay public money it had wrongly allocated to paying legal costs.
• April 2019: Subpostmaster claimants’ legal team makes application for the Post Office to pay millions of pounds of costs associated with trial.
• April 2019: Post Office to appeal judgment from first Horizon trial.
• April 2019: The Post Office’s claim that the judge overseeing the case concerning its controversial Horizon IT system was biased has been dismissed – but will now be considered by the Court of Appeal.
• April 2019: MP questions government over Post Office Horizon case.
• April 2019: Government says no conflict of interest in trial despite Post Office chairman’s dual role.
• May 2019: The Court of Appeal has refused the Post Office’s application to appeal a major decision in the Horizon IT trial.
• May 2019: The Post Office has applied for permission to appeal judgments from the first trial in its IT-related legal battle with subpostmasters.
• May 2019: The judge in the Post Office Horizon trial has ordered the organisation to pay the legal costs of its courtroom adversaries, and refused to give permission to appeal a major judgment.
• June 2019:Post Office asks Court of Appeal for permission to appeal judgment in first Horizon trial.
• July 2019: The Post Office has admitted that some subpostmasters are at risk of accounts not balancing due to an error it does not understand.