Former senior Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins, a key figure behind the flawed IT system that led to the wrongful imprisonment of hundreds of sub-postmasters, has testified at the Post Office inquiry. Jenkins, who was instrumental in the prosecutions process due to his role in designing the Horizon accounting systems, revealed that he had not remembered receiving legal advice about his obligations as an expert witness.
During his second day of evidence, Jenkins admitted under questioning from inquiry counsel Jason Beer KC that he had been copied in to a letter from Bond Pearce solicitors in 2006 that explained his duty of impartiality. However, he stated that his focus at the time would have been on addressing questions about Horizon contained in a separate attachment.
The letter in question related to the Post Office’s prosecution of postmaster Lee Castleton and was written four years before Jenkins served as an expert witness in the case of Seema Misra. Misra was wrongfully sentenced to 15 months in prison while pregnant in 2010.
Jenkins testified on Wednesday that it was not until 2020 that he fully understood his legal obligations of impartiality. He also alleged that the Post Office had pressured him to support their case against Misra. Jenkins is currently under investigation by police for potential perjury.
In his witness statement, Jenkins claimed that Post Office lawyer Warwick Tatford had reviewed a draft of his statement and advised him to “make some points more strongly in favour of the Post Office.” This included portraying Misra as a thief rather than merely incompetent. When asked about these changes by Beer, Jenkins stated that he assumed it was normal practice and that he did not feel comfortable with it.
Misra, who was later exonerated, told Sky News that Jenkins’ apology to her was “too little, too late.”
Jenkins also defended the Horizon software on Wednesday, despite the High Court ruling in 2019 that it was “not remotely robust.” He acknowledged that Fujitsu had the ability to alter branch accounts remotely, but stated that this capability was limited until 2018. However, he admitted that he knew remote access was theoretically possible as early as 2000, nearly two decades before the Post Office acknowledged it and 15 years before they ceased prosecuting sub-postmasters. Jenkins claimed that he did not realize this was happening in practice until 2018.
Jenkins is scheduled to continue his testimony on Thursday and Friday at the inquiry, one day longer than former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells.
