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The unanswered question...
I have not yet seen answers to the following two questions (answers to be given under oath and if incorrect or misleading to be prosecuted for perjury):
If an alleged accounting error occurred in a Post Office operated by a major player (who could afford mega bucks in legal fees to defend their position) occured would the Post Office back down?Have there in fact been allegations of such accounting errors and, if so, on how many occasions have Post Office ran away from prosecution in the light of adversaries that could not be out gunned?
I have an ongoing doubt as to the guilt of successfully prosecuted Postmasters when there is seemingly so much doubt as to the accuracy / robustness of Horizon. I rather suspect that juries have been "blinded by science" and defence lawyers might not have been told of material facts which could include undisclosed eMails.
If it is the fact that Horizon is defective and has wrongly been defended by Post Office directors who knew the true facts then it rather does suggest to me that those Post Office directors should be prosecuted rather than innocent Postmasters. "Contempt of court" "Perjury" "False accounting". It then would follow that very considerable compensation would be due to be paid by the Post Office to any innocent but wrongly convicted Postmasters.
My local post office had a problem a few years ago
I remember a quick change over of postmaster at my local post office a few years ago. He and his wife, who were the only staff, were reluctant to say why they were moving on. I later read in the local paper that "discrepancies" had been found in their books.
I was really puzzled, as I reckoned that they were honest hardworking people who would not have attempted any fraud.
So this article leads me to think I might be right. If so, whether both of them have the money/energy to sue the Post Office for defamation is of course debatable. Unless they are both union members I don't think they are going to be able to do anything. Maybe some sort of class action could be mounted to pay for an expert IT witness.
I am appalled that innocent hardworking staff can be treated so badly, but there are plenty of others in the public service who have been hung out to dry before now.
It can get complicated
In a number of cases what has happened is that the accounting system has shown a shortfall at the weekly 'balance' (usually carried out as at the close of business on a Wednesday). The 'text book' position is that the postmaster should immediately make good the shortfall. But sometimes the postmaster will put this off - for example because he thinks it might be a timing discrepancy or some other error which will resolve itself.
However on some occasions the postmaster has 'hidden' the shortfall by making a false entry to 'balance the books', perhaps with the intention of giving himself time to sort things out one way or another.
The making of a false entry by the postmaster with the intention of avoiding having to make a payment is a criminal offence under s17 Theft Act 1968. It has on some occasions been false accounting such as this to which a postmaster has pleaded guilty.
A guilty plea of course carries with it substantial mitigation - for example it increases the likelihood of avoiding an immediate prison sentence.
Where a postmaster has pleaded guilty to a criminal offence the postmaster is admitting dishonesty & the Post Office will naturally feel that its action & its systems have been fully vindicated.
Whereas the convicted postmaster will feel that he has lost his job / his business & his reputation unfairly & unjustly.
David
I accept your point, David
However, the Post Office have not been known in the past for enlightened approaches to staff management, and I continue to be biased against them - even if I'm wrong.
My point is that circumstances can operate which result in a fundamentally honest person who (arguably) makes an error of judgement being subject to criminal prosecution, considerable stress, loss of income & loss of reputation.
Unfortunately the (no doubt well-intentioned & correct) advice which that person will receive is to plead guilty. After that their protestations that they did nothing really wrong will fall on deaf ears. It's all rather sad.
David
Horizon
Gentlemen (and Ladies),
I discussed the matter of Horizon with my local Postmaster. He tells me that twice in the last two months he has had an imbalance - over - which is still to be sorted. He retained the "Surplus" cash in the safe.
He also tells me that the Horizon system is in use in the Crown Post Offices, and here imbalances are just written off. There would appear to be a complete difference of treatment between self employed sub-postmasters and paid Royal Mail Staff.
Christopher Thacker