Archives :
March 2021
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That was the week that was
Hello there, secret emailers. You may have seen a meme doing the rounds about the curse of Liverpool FC. It tells of the various random mishaps which may have contributed to the club’s failure to win the Premier League since it started. This season, Liverpool were on course to win the title by a distance.…
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All over bar the quashings
Not with a bang but a wrangle I have decided to send the secret email out tonight before writing a report of today’s Court of Appeal hearing, because whilst the proceedings were exceptionally important for the three appellants concerned, it solely focused on their individual cases. The court was being asked to allow the appeals…
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Day 3: Grounding it out
Boris wants people held to account I haven’t had any real chance to gather my thoughts today, so apologies if this reads like a stream of consciousness. Live-tweeting turns your brain to mush. It’s very hard to then turn that mush into something capable of assembling a decent report on the day’s events. I tried.…
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Day 2: The Empire Strikes Back
Post Office explains everything It’s late so I’ll be super quick. I’ve published my court report from today here. Do please have a read. Most of today was spent listening to Brian Altman QC explaining the Post Office’s perspective on everything, but right at the very end, there was quite a moment in court as…
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Post Office ordered shredding of Horizon-related documents
Cover-ups and destruction at the Post Office It was jaw-dropping to listen to Tim Moloney’s opening submission this morning. Most of what he had to say was not new to me, but when a summary of an appalling scandal is compiled and delivered to a courtroom by a skilful QC it can be devastating stuff.…
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Historic appeal hearing begins
Historic week ahead This is a short preview email to let you know a Court of Appeal hearing you should now be aware of will start today at 10.30am in court 4 of the Royal Courts of Justice. I am sending this to you from the jury box in court 4 surrounded by all the…
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CoA: The long, lonely road to justice
Historic week ahead Next Monday, 42 Subpostmasters will aim to have their criminal convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal. Nothing quite like this has ever happened before. I have been lucky enough to secure a place in the well of the main court and I will be live-tweeting every twist of proceedings. I will…
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Judicial Review of Post Office compensation scheme fails at application hearing
Chirag: “we’ll be back” Definitely, definitely a shorter email this time. Chirag Sidhpura’s attempt to force a judicial review of the Post Office Historical Shortfall Scheme failed at an application hearing today. I have written a piece about it here. It was my first attempt at live-tweeting a virtual High Court hearing. When it works,…
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Government latest on Horizon scandal and back to the High Court tomorrow
“Full and final settlement…” Hello again, secret email friends, After yesterday’s epic, I’ll try to keep it brief. I took a break from writing this morning to watch a short parliamentary debate which picked up on some of the continuing fallout from the Bates v Post Office litigation, specifically the hopeless failure of the courts…
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Curse of AvdB confirmed and Post Office Horizon IT being raised in parliament tomorrow
Post Office toxicity spreads…. Good evening. Four things for you to consider tonight: 1. The Curse of AvdB is confirmed. 2. The Post Office Horizon system and the way the courts deal with IT will be in the parliamentary spotlight at 11am tomorrow. 3. The Judicial Review application hearing scheduled for Thursday is still currently…