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The Post Office’s former head of criminal prosecutions consistently opposed an independent review of the Horizon IT system, an investigation has found, despite continued questions.
Rob Wilson told the Postal Service inquiry that he believed in the reliability of the Horizon system at least until 2012, accepting his view at the time that the organization should “grit its teeth and continue prosecuting”. said.
Wilson, a lawyer since 1980, was shown an email from March 2010 in which he cited several reasons for refusing an independent review of Horizon, stating that such a review would result in new or ongoing It warned that the prosecution would be “inappropriate”.
Mr Wilson said challenges from subpostmasters were “not new and have been going on since Horizon’s inception, as they were the only way defendants could challenge evidence when they stole money.” he said.
He warned that continuing to prosecute suspected criminals during an investigation could have a “negative impact on the team’s reputation” and could lead to a challenge in the Court of Appeal.
Jason Beer KC, a lawyer on the investigation, said the email “on its face appears to be an attempt to prevent the launch of an independent investigation into the integrity of Horizon.”
An internal review was conducted and no evidence was found that Horizon was defective. Mr Wilson said he was happy with that, adding: “I didn’t think there was a problem with the system.”
Wilson was head of the criminal division that oversaw hundreds of prosecutions under the now-discredited Horizon.
The court heard that a settlement motion was agreed to by the Post Office on the condition that the defendants could not question Horizon.
Wilson’s team’s investigation was conducted primarily by former post office clerks, and few had legal or law enforcement experience. Mr Wilson admitted there was no system in place to regularly monitor their performance and the 10-strong team dedicated to overseeing their casework had no lawyers.
Beer called the Post Office’s prosecution policy “problematic,” without directly referring to the prosecutorial code. The policy, created in 2007, included a clause stating that investigations must be conducted “within the confines of law, regulation and business priorities.”
Asked by Beale if there was anything wrong with the guidance, Wilson said: [reference]… [prosecutors] It should be independent. ”
But he insists that the lawyers on his team have always remained independent in their decision-making, adding: “At no point in my career have I ever felt pressured to do anything other than act independently.” Never,” he added.
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