A Post Office legal representative understands the “profound mistrust” following a list of disclosure failings throughout the Horizon IT inquiry.
A further disclosure setback in November, in which about 363,000 emails were found on a “legacy” mailing system – one that doesn’t meet current technological standards – resulted in witnesses being delayed.
Chris Jackson, a lawyer representing the Post Office, apologised for the delay.
Before the latest disclosure failings, the inquiry had been held up by hard copy documents being found in new Post Office locations and the misuse of search terms in the disclosure exercise.
Other failings contributing to the delay included:
• Relevant emails not being disclosed to the investigation
• Failing to consider “families” of documents
• Not disclosing names of those blind copied into emails (when the name is not visible to other recipients)
• Failing to disclose documents on back-up tapes
