A former Post Office director has expressed regret over a “missed opportunity” to prevent the Horizon IT scandal at the public inquiry.
David Miller. who was chief operating officer in 2004, admitted failing to read an expert’s report claiming issues with the accounting system in the case of then-Cleveleys sub-postmistress, Julie Wolstenholme.
She had been seeking almost £180,000 from Post Office for unfair dismissal in a counter claim to a civil case brought by the company.
Ms Wolstenholme later received less than £25,000 in a settlement, meaning that the critical 2003 report on the Horizon system by Jason Coyne did not come to light at the time.
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In his witness statement, Mr Miller said of a meeting with ex-head of security Tony Marsh: “He told me there was an issue with the expert advice which had led our counsel to say the case was unlikely to succeed. It was clear that he did not think much of the expert.
“The view was that we should cut our losses and pay up. He said something about Horizon – I cannot recall specifically what he said but I remember checking with him whether there were issues with Horizon (I said something like; ‘you are not saying there are issues with Horizon are you, Tony?’)
“He said that there were no issues and I got the impression it was a one-off case.
“Knowing what I now know about Horizon and the way it was used to wrongly prosecute and bring civil claims against sub-postmasters, I very much regret not reading the expert’s report…
