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

'I don't think I thought it through' and 'I realise now' for the thousandth time. 😡

GJ agreed with Andy Dunks' conclusion that "the level of calls from the branch were typical for other branches".

Part of the problem being revealed here is that Post Office's case was that any fault would have been readily found as a result of an investigation and implied that such an investigation had been carried out, and because it showed no faults, then Seema Misra had been dishonest.

But what had been done wasn't a proper investigation.

Oh god, that email 🤬

Poor Seema sitting at the inquiry hearing this. I'm sure I would be in tears if I were in her place.

Jason Beer couldn't resist being snarky over Jarnail Singh's pisspoor command of the English language as he reads out one of his emails.

What follows has a pantomime character.

I'd be throwing chairs at him tbh. They must all be so so angry.

There's a rare moment of accord when GJ and Beer agree on the garbled nature of Singh's email.

Yes, Singh shouldn't have had a job. He was totally incompetent.

It seems that the PO lawyers refused to give complete disclosure to the defence team and its experts. So in effect Misra would need to suggest bugs and faults without having access to the data. Which means that Misra would in effect have to prove herself innocent.

Mr Beer never loses his sense of humour does he? Despite the arduous nature of this procedure - and his having to stand all the time!

Thank you for the commentary and timings the last few days. I can't watch, and will have to catch up later.

Singh was also running his own side business at the time I think - conveyancing for house sales. So whatever concentration he had - it wasn't being devoted to these criminal cases. ... even though he was the PO "head" of criminal law.

😮😮😮😮

When they go for prosecutions of lawyers I expect Singh to be target no.1. But I won't be surprised if he's the only one they go for.

Would there be prosecutions or just being disbarred?

Thank you @Lunde , thats how I am understanding this.

Its slowly dawning on me just how bad and horrific the Post Office acted.
(Just to be clear, I understand how bad the PO are,but in fact its wirse rhan what i thought)

But, the fact they changed how our Justice system works by making SPMR prove themselves innocent has only just dawned on me.

No wonder Judge Fraser and the Court of Appeal judge were bloody furious in their judgements and gave Post Office such a hammering.
The Post Office essentially bastardised our legal system.

Maybe I'm super slow, but I'm starting to get it now.

I thought there was a big difference between GJ on Tuesday - “He’s been forthcoming and answered questions readily with a clear thought process justifying his answers” as @redalex261 wrote then, with this afternoon when he seemed very defensive and grumpy.

I think Singh will be target #1. Indeed wasn't it his claim of being "overworked" that led to the PO employing the cutthroat outside lawyers such as the Wombles? I think there could be a lot of other lawyers in firing line, especially those who encouraged/ pressurized witnesses to alter or delete things from witness statements.

Sadly I doubt it will affect the snooty barristers who tried to influence the trial outcome by getting the judge removed.

Cynically I think they'll go for a sprinkling of prosecutions, a Post Office lawyer, an external one, that could be Warwick thingy, someone at Fujitsu, so that's Jenkins, maybe a couple of Post Office investigators, and maybe someone from Post Office management. Nothing root-and-branch, but enough of a rogues' gallery to appease an angry public.

He is on much stickier ground here with the omissions from his witness statements and apparent eagerness to do the bidding of the PO lawyers.

You're probably right there. And the rest just slink off into the sunset.

I love when they say 'i'd like to just get the day over with'. As if it's an inconvenience akin to an NCT or something. Really gives away the attitude.

I think that it would be seriously problematic to prosecute some lower level staff while letting senior management off the hook.

Pretty much the PO's own strategy

I assumed that he has been feeling unwell - hence Sir Wyn asking if he wanted a longer break. Like the early lunch taken when JB was unwell earlier in the week.