Post Office investigator claims Horizon victim who died 'broken man' was guilty
A Post Office investigator has insisted a subpostmaster was guilty of embezzlement despite his wrongful conviction being overturned by a court.
Raymond Grant said he still believes William Quarm stole cash from his branch in North Uist, Scotland, in an extraordinary claim to the Post Office Inquiry. But he failed to give proper evidence to the probe for his reasons - and was accused of being too busy with "dog walks and carols".
Mr Grant had to be hauled before the Inquiry on Wednesday to give evidence as he claimed his "time was limited" as he wanted to focus on his current job at the Salvation Army. He had submitted a "minimum" witness statement that was just over two pages.
He was grilled over the prosecution of William Quarm, who was convicted in 2010 and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work. Mr Quarm died two years later aged 69, not knowing that he would eventually be cleared. His conviction was finally quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh last year.
Mr Quarm's wife Anne, 72, said her husband died a “broken man” when he was convicted of embezzling thousands of pounds from his Post Office in North Uist. "My husband pleaded guilty because he was told he was going to jail if he didn’t. He was a broken man and very upset and not well, as it later turned out," she told the Daily Record.
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“I promised him I would try my very best to clear his name and asked for him to forgive anyone who had done him wrong and to go in peace. He agreed to do that and that was a blessing.”
Asked by Counsel to the Inquiry Jason Beer KC whether he still thought Mr Quarm was guilty of embezzlement, Mr Grant said: "In my mind, I still think Mr Quarm had a role to play in the loss of the money." Pressed on whether he thinks he was "guilty of the crime", he replied: "Yes I do."
But Mr Grant denied that was his reason for not regarding the inquiry as a priority. Challenged about the shortness of his witness statement, Mr Grant said he his "time was limited" as he defended not prioritising the inquiry.
"My current role is I work in a homeless centre for a Christian organisation - it has 30 residents in it," he said. "I am the programme manager... Part of the role is to ensure that at that time of the year, December in a Christian calendar, there are a lot of activities going on."
"We were, at that point, five members of staff short. I was working somewhere in the region of 10 to 11-hour days - I was going home, walking my dog and at the same time." He added that he has to house-hunt after being asked to vacate his property by the end of December, as well as "then having to prepare a detailed statement of my memory from the time of employment, which was 16 years ago, to any involvement in any Post Office investigation".
He also lamented that "there was nobody paying me the salary to do the work that we're here talking about today". Mr Grant only appeared at the inquiry in person "under the threat of the exercise of compulsory powers" after being served a section 21 notice.
During the evidence session, Mr Grant was asked about interrogating Mr Quarm after he had experienced minor strokes from the previous year. During one interview in 2008, the Inquiry heard that Mr Grant's evidence suggested that Mr Quarm was "dazed and not understanding the questions put to him". He then took his daily medication and confirmed he was fit to continue.
Mr Beer read out part of his statement where it says Mr Grant later suspended the interview "due to the health condition of Mr Quarm and the inability to contact anyone in authority because of the remote location of the branch".
At the end of his evidence, Mr Grant appeared to become emotional as he said for his "part" in the scandal, he was "humbly sorry". In a personal statement, he said: "The Post Office let postmasters down, they let the staff who they employed down by being less than open and honest with information that should have been shared, wasn't shared and the ultimate result has led to significant upset and significant difficulties for people who were left behind.
"They deceived me and they deceived an awful lot more people. For my part in it, I'm humbly sorry. I just hope people do learn from this."
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More than 700 branch managers were prosecuted by the Post Office after Fujitsu's faulty accounting software, Horizon, made it look as though money was missing from their shops. The saga prompted an outcry across the country after it was dramatised in the ITV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office earlier this month.
Hundreds of subpostmasters are awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.
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