Lawyer representing the Post Office accused of telling a ’major falsehood’

Former senior Post Office lawyer Jarnail Singh has denied that he knew about bugs in the Horizon system while sub-postmaster prosecutions continued for three years.

However, lead counsel for the Horizon inquiry Jason Beer accused Mr Singh of telling a "big fat lie".

Mr Singh was forwarded an email on the eve of the 2010 trial of Seema Misra, a sub-postmistress who was sent to jail while pregnant.

It identified bugs in the Horizon system that should have been disclosed in Mrs Misra’s trial.

Mr Singh denied having read the email, despite being presented with evidence that he saved a copy to his hard drive and printed it off.

The email was sent on 8 October 2010 by Rob Wilson, head of the Post Office’s criminal law team at the time. He alerted the Post Office to a series of incidents where money in Horizon had "disappeared at branch level" and incorrect balances were shown.

When asked by Mr Beer whether this email "ought to have rung alarm bells", Mr Singh responded: "Yes."

The following week, Mrs Misra’s case began. She was eventually found guilty of false accounting and theft, sentenced to 10 months in prison, and jailed while pregnant on her son’s 10th birthday.

The email was not disclosed in her trial.

Prosecution lawyers have a duty to disclose documents that could undermine their case in criminal trials.

’Blind denial’

Mr Beer showed evidence suggesting Mr Singh had saved an attachment about Horizon discrepancies to his hard drive, and printed it off on 8 October 2010.

"I don’t recall seeing it, I don’t recall printing it," Mr Singh said.

When asked whether it was saved on the hard drive of his computer, Mr Singh said: "I don’t even know what you’re talking about.

"I don’t know how these things worked."

"You don’t know how to save a document?" Mr Beer asked.

"I didn’t know how to do it," Mr Singh responded, saying he wouldn’t have had the technical knowledge either to do that or to understand the document itself.

"I don’t remember this document at all, or the email," he added.

Mr Beer said Mr Singh was engaged in "blind denial" because "this is evidence of your own guilty knowledge".

Mr Singh replied: "That is not true, and I don’t feel guilty, because I haven’t received it, because if I did, I would have dealt with it.

"I don’t recaIl receiving it, or reading it, or printing it - that is my evidence on oath."

Mr Beer had earlier shown emails sent in 2013 and 2015 which said Mr Singh had only become aware of bugs in Horizon when a report by forensic accountants Second Sight was published in July 2013.

However, Mr Beer accused Mr Singh of a "cover-up", which Mr Singh denied.

"There has been no cover-up on my part, and never will be," he said.

A little later, following more denials from Mr Singh, Mr Beer said: "All of this: ’If I received it, if I read it’ - it’s a big fat lie, isn’t it? And you know it, Mr Singh."

Mr Singh responded: "Sir, I didn’t come here to lie, I’m at an age where I have come to assist the inquiry. And that’s all."

Mrs Misra, who was present during the session, was asked during the lunch break whether she believed Mr Singh. "No," she told the BBC.

She said she had been fighting the Post Office since 2005, but added that "now we’re going in the right direction" in terms of what the inquiry was finding out.

Mr Singh was then asked questions about document shredding, and kept his head in his hands for a number of minutes, "umm"-ing and "err"-ing through a lot of answers. 

Later the inquiry was shown an email written by Mr Singh in May 2014, referring to Jo Hamilton, a former sub-postmistress featured in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

In the email Mr Singh said that an investigations officer in Ms Hamilton’s case had recommended she should not be prosecuted.

The investigations officer had written: "Having analysed the Horizon print out and accounting documentation, I was unable to find any evidence of theft, or cash in hand figures being inflated."

Mr Singh said in the email that he had "no doubt that the decision not to disclose" this was correct because this would give Ms Hamilton and forensic investigators Second Sight "every opportunity to ask why in fact Hamilton was prosecuted".

Mr Beer again said this was evidence of a Post Office "cover-up", which Mr Singh again denied.

Looking on throughout was Ms Hamilton, who appeared bemused. Her conviction for false accounting was finally overturned in 2021.

Speaking to the BBC after the inquiry had been adjourned for the day, Ms Hamilton said she felt "just so chuffed to get to here" because sub-postmasters have "fought for so many years".

She said there was "no hiding place now" for the people being cross-examined in the inquiry.

"It makes you feel really satisfied," she said. "The worm has turned."

She added of Mr Singh’s testimony: "I don’t believe a word that he is saying".

David Wilson