Post Office inquiry to hear from former in-house lawyer

1. Counsel to inquiry focuses on IT system bugs

   Counsel to the inquiry, Julian Blake, says he will look broadly chronologically at the bugs, errors and defects, as well as the Second Sight investigation.

   These have been major features of the inquiry so far.

   The independent forensic accountants Second Sight played a key role in exposing the scandal, finding flaws in the Horizon computer system, which generated false evidence of cash shortfalls at sub-post offices, leading to wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters.

   Post Office bosses kept insisting their systems were robust.

2. Susan Crichton asked about career history

   Inquiry counsel Blake now runs through Susan Crichton's CV. This part can often go on for some time, so bear with us.

   "You were the Post Office's first head of legal?" Blake asks.

   "It was badged that way," Crichton says. "It was formerly part of the Royal Mail team. This was part of a process of separation from the Royal Mail."

   Blake asks Crichton if she had a direct reporting line to chief executive Paula Vennells. Crichton says she did.

   Inquiry counsel Blake moves on to ask if Crichton was assigned responsibility for the security team in 2012, to which she replies: "Yes".

   She tells Blake she was "starting to think about and look at culture of the Post Office at the time".

   "There was a view we should re-look at security and its role within organisation," she says.

   "From July 2013 until your departure, you were called general counsel?" Blake asks. "That's correct," Crichton confirm.

3. 'I am truly sorry for suffering caused', says former in-house Post Office lawyer

   Julian Blake, counsel to the inquiry, begins today's evidence from Susan Crichton.

   Crichton is looking at her witness statement and confirms she signed it and it is true to the best of her knowledge.

   As we have seen in many of these proceedings, Crichton is making a few corrections as well - minor grammatical mistakes - to the witness statement.

   Before her questioning starts, Crichton says she takes time to say to "all those that have suffered... that I am truly sorry for the suffering caused to you and your families".

   Crichton says she wishes issues were solved more quickly, and hopes giving evidence means "something like this never happens again".

4. Susan Crichton sworn in

   Susan Crichton is now being sworn in. We'll bring you the latest updates as soon as we have them.

   To watch along live, click the play button at the top of this page.

5. It’s a big week at the inquiry

   

   Emma Simpson

   Business correspondent

   Susan Crichton was the Post Office’s general counsel until the autumn of 2013.

   By then, forensic investigators Second Sight were uncovering a host of issues, which caused barrister Simon Clarke to become concerned about the conduct of prosecutions.

   He advised the Post Office to stop using Fujitsu’s Gareth Jenkins as an expert witness in criminal trials because he had failed to tell the courts about bugs and defects which he knew about.

   By now, alarm bells should’ve been ringing about potential wrongful convictions. In another piece of advice on the need to retain important information for potential disclosure, Simon Clarke suggested Post Office had been “shredded”.

   Susan Crichton left abruptly not long after.

   The big mystery is why did she leave?

   Did she sign an NDA on the way out and what did she do about Simon Clarke’s advice?

   It’s going to be a fascinating day of evidence covering a key moment in this scandal, as the alleged cover up got well and truly under way.

6. What is the Post Office Horizon inquiry?

   A public inquiry began in February 2021 and has heard evidence from Post Office, Fujitsu employees and many others.

   It resumed on Tuesday 9 April, with campaigner and former sub-postmaster Alan Bates the first to appear.

   This phase of the inquiry is expected to last several weeks, with former Post Office chief executives Paula Vennells and Adam Crozier among those giving evidence.

   Today, we’ll hear from Susan Crichton who was the Post Office’s top in-house lawyer until 2013.

7. Good morning

   

   Malu Cursino

   Live reporter

   You’re joining us as the Post Office inquiry reconvenes for another week of hearings at Aldwych House in central London.

   As the inquiry continues in its fifth phase, we’re expecting to learn more about what went on behind the scenes between 1999 and 2015, when the Post Office prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters because of data from the faulty Horizon IT system.

   We’ll be bringing you the latest developments and analysis here on this page, and you can also watch the inquiry live from 09:45 by pressing the Play icon at the top of this page.