Paula Vennells is history but now at the Post Office Inquiry is Fujitsu distinguished engineer Gareth Jenkins - thread 4

[nauticant]

A continuation of this thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5094266-paula-vennells-was-done-the-other-week-the-post-office-inquiry-is-now-questioning-associates-and-others-thread-3

When the hearings are going on, live-streaming can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/@postofficehorizonitinquiry947/featured

All of the previous hearings can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/@postofficehorizonitinquiry947/videos

This is one of the bigg(er) miscarriages of justice in this country, and touches many aspects of how our world works - the government, the legal system, the duties of companies to behave ethically vs. contractual requirements. Even PFI deals. None of this is entertainment except in the sense that the "entertainment" gives a sense of levity to be able to keep going in the face of the awful misery that this deadly entanglement of failures caused - early deaths, whether by suicide or just human misery, lives ruined through multiple generations, etc.

Whether you're a lawyer, work in business, own a business, are a voter in this country or are just a member of the public, all of these things are very relevant to how the system works (or doesn't).

It was caused by people not paying attention, being professionally incurious, or refusing to "see" what was in front of their faces. We should ALL be paying attention.

A longer break than normal till 11.40. That'll be the only morning break.

Well said, @Xiaoxiong

He knew by 2018 that remote transactions would be attributed to the SPMs if they were logged on at the time, and others (SSC/John Simpkins) already knew it? Have I just heard that right?

Yes, that's right.

I'm not sure if anyone else has linked to Nick Wallis on GJ's evidence yesterday:

www.postofficescandal.uk/post/gareth-jenkins-the-incredible-witness/

I wonder how much of a technical expert he is, though. You can see his disingenuous and unthinking responses when it is in plain English. ‘I would have done things differently if I had received the letter about my duties’. ‘Ah, now I see I received the letter, but it didn’t make any impact on me at all. So my first answer is bunkum.’ All paraphrased.

Maybe that is replicated in his efforts with his technical expertise. Tunnel vision and without looking at anything extraneous which might impact that. ‘Let us never doubt what nobody is sure about’. He admits that later on he became aware of outside elements which could have an effect on the Horizon. He didn’t take possible unknowns into account. Just because it is more technical makes everyone think he is fully on top of the techie stuff. Maybe he is just as limited in that. A skimmer in all respects. Cutting corners.

That's why a few of us see autism. It's what we get accused of all the time and we often struggle with hypotheticals. Not lazy, just hyper focused. I don't see intent at all from him compared to others

Not sure what to make of the conflict in evidence between GJ and Ian Henderson's (Second Sight) witness statement. Especially when, during Henderson's testimony, it was clear that Henderson was mixing things he'd learned recently with what he knew a decade or so ago.

Whether the intent is there or not, I’m just wondering if he is much different in the breadth of his technical abilities. Most people would assume great intelligence, knowledge and expertise as it is beyond our wit.

You can be hyper focused, and still take the complete picture into account if it has any possible effect on your area of focus. Indeed, it would be negligent not to in many cases.

I remember the Mars Climate Orbiter that failed (multi millions cost) as there were teams working in Metric, and others working in Imperial.

I'm so sick of "I didn't understand" from this man. His testimony is incredibly frustrating.

The long and the short of it is, if they were all so bloody inept and understood nothing, how did they actually get these jobs?

I think I'm somewhat overinvested in this. My friend just messaged me to ask if I was ok because she hadn't had a text about the inquiry in a couple of days 😳

Oh dear, Jason Beer is struggling with his cough. Early lunch called, returning at 13.35.

He doesn't look well at all tbf. It must be hard standing and talking for that long.

I heard JB say that he had hay fever so hopefully then can get him dosed up with Clarityn during lunch.

I'm on a cocktail of Fexofenadine and Piriton today. It's crap. I hope he got someone to look at his throat.

.

This evidence explains so much

GJ: 'I wasn't aware of my ignorance then'

GJ: 'I didn't understand the legal niceties'

That long section was about the creation of documents which were key to Post Office having the view that the Horizon system was reliable which fed through to how Post Office ran its cases in court, mainly criminal but also civil.

Now onto case studies on who did, and didn't do, what. This is where GJ tends to struggle.

Ahh, GJ is being taken through the creation of the infamous witness statement that Graham Ward nobbled, that we heard about last week.

GJ's interpretation of "the two paragraphs" that he presented in his witness statement is utterly bonkers. It was foolish to try that on. It undermines his credibility.

Sir Wyn Williams intervenes to express contempt for what GJ is asserting.

That section of cross-examination went very badly for GJ.