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What were they thinking?
Whilst the Post Office was prosecuting Subpostmasters for crimes they didn’t commit, it was also asking its investigators if their suspects were “Negroid Types”. This was as recently as 2008. The document (which you can read here) has come to light as a result of diligent and tenacious FOI work by Eleanor Shaikh. In its…
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Racist ID codes. When did they leave the Met?
On 2 June 2023 I sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Metropolitan Police, London’s police force. I asked: “Could you tell me when the police stopped using the word “negroid” in its racial identification codes? Please can you supply me with documentation supporting this?” To give the Met’s FOI department some context,…
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Ghost Storey
Usually when thinking about how to write a summary of the day’s evidence, there are one or two moments or lines which have made an impression. I’m struggling to think of anything Susannah Storey said during today’s session worth reporting. I realise I’m not exactly selling what you’re about to read, but it did feel…
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Davey briefed to dismiss Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance Concerns in 2010
The first meeting between Alan Bates from the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) and a government minister took place on 5 October 2010. Ed Davey was, at the time, the Liberal Democrat minister responsible for the Post Office within the coalition government. The date was crucial: the trial of Seema Misra was less than a…
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Poor Tom
Tom Cooper was pitched into the Post Office madness quite late in the scandal. He joined UK Government Investments in 2017, and became UKGI’s man on the Post Office board in March 2018 whilst it was already embroiled in litigation with with its Subpostmasters and careering towards the first of two disastrous High Court trials.…
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Glitch: a play about Pam Stubbs and the Post Office Scandal
I had the pleasure of giving Pam Stubbs a lift to Reading University yesterday where she was guest of honour at a VIP reception before a performance of Glitch, a play about Pam’s experience at the hands of the Post Office. It was a wonderful surprise to see Janet Skinner, Seema and Davinder Misra, Tracy…
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Gareth Jenkins Day 3: Criminally Stupid or Holy Fool?
Being involved in the criminal prosecution of anyone should focus the mind. There is a lot at stake for the individual concerned. Basic human courtesy demands you take whatever task you have or are given very seriously. Today Gareth Jenkins’ almost Olympian levels of disengagement with his wide-ranging role in helping the Post Office prosecute…
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Gareth Jenkins Day 2: the god complex unravels
On Tuesday Gareth Jenkins was quite certain he had no idea what the duties of an expert witness were until 2020. Today we discovered he was sent an email in 2006 explaining what the duties of an expert witness were, whilst he was being asked to provide evidence to the Post Office in preparation for…
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De Garr Robinson’s Jenkins problem
Poor old Tony Robinson, just trying to make an honest crust defending his client, whilst being misled by his instructing solicitors (Womble Bond Dickinson), his client’s supplier (Fujitsu) or possibly even his client – the Post Office! As leading counsel for the Post Office in the Horizon Issues trial during Bates v Post Office, de…
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More dispatches from the Post Office bunker: the PR guy goes Tonto
On 1 Dec 2014 I was in Cornwall, where Tim Robinson, Jane Goddard, Joe Cooper and I had been filming with former Subpostmaster Sue Knight. After 32 years service Sue had been sacked and prosecuted by the Post Office for false accounting. Although the prosecution had been dropped, Sue’s life was falling apart. She had…