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A former Fujitsu engineer has insisted the IT system on the centre of the Submit Workplace scandal was strong, regardless of the Excessive Courtroom discovering it was answerable for wrongful prosecutions.
Gareth Jenkins informed a public inquiry on Tuesday that whereas he accepted there have been “discrete bugs” within the Horizon system — developed by Fujitsu — that might end in account discrepancies, they had been nicely managed and managed.
“They may trigger discrepancies in department accounts however not on the kind of ranges which were talked about,” he mentioned. “Usually the methods, I consider, had been working as they need to.”
The Excessive Courtroom dominated in a landmark case in 2019 that a number of “bugs, errors and defects” had meant there was a “materials threat” that Horizon was accountable for account shortfalls on the centre of Submit Workplace prosecutions.
Greater than 900 sub-postmasters had been convicted in circumstances involving defective knowledge from Horizon following its introduction in 1999. Greater than 100 convictions had been overturned by the Courtroom of Enchantment earlier than laws was handed this 12 months to exonerate most victims en masse.
Within the 2019 Excessive Courtroom ruling, Mr Justice Fraser wrote that legacy Horizon — a system rolled out to branches from 1999 till 2010 — was not “remotely strong”.
Jenkins mentioned the system was not infallible, however there have been “mechanisms in place” to watch bugs and errors within the system. “There have been some discrete bugs that brought about some issues to the accounts,” he mentioned.
“They had been very discrete and I consider they had been nicely managed and managed on the time,” he added, although he later conceded that he could have been “wrongly assured” that this was the case.
Jenkins joined Fujitsu in 1973 when it was Worldwide Computer systems. He retired in 2015 however was retained on an advert hoc foundation by the IT firm as a guide till August 2022.
He was deployed by the state-owned Submit Workplace as a witness within the prosecution of Seema Misra, a sub-postmaster who was sentenced in 2010 to fifteen months in jail for theft whereas eight weeks pregnant. Misra’s conviction was quashed by the Courtroom of Enchantment in 2021.
Barrister Simon Clarke in 2013 informed the Submit Workplace that Jenkins had did not disclose data in Misra’s case in “plain breach of his obligation as an knowledgeable witness”.
Clarke suggested that Jenkins shouldn’t be used to offer proof in any “present or future prosecution”.
Jenkins wrote in his witness assertion to the inquiry that he was not conscious of Clarke’s steerage. “This recommendation was extremely crucial of me and has had far-reaching penalties,” he mentioned.
Jenkins informed the inquiry that the Submit Workplace’s attorneys had tried to “put phrases in my mouth” and mentioned he was conscious officers had rephrased his proof to be extra unequivocal in regards to the robustness of Horizon.
He added attorneys didn’t correctly temporary him that he was an “knowledgeable witness” within the Misra trial — a job that required him to set out any antagonistic findings — as an alternative he offered a slender set of proof. “Nobody informed me I wanted to do greater than that,” he mentioned.
The previous Fujitsu engineer additionally assisted the Submit Workplace within the 2019 Excessive Courtroom case.
The Metropolitan Police has interviewed Jenkins below warning in relation to allegations of perjury and perverting the course of justice following proof he supplied as a witness in Submit Workplace prosecutions. Jenkins has not been arrested or charged with any offence.
