Fujitsu boss admits to missed opportunities to prevent miscarriages of justice | Computer Weekly
Summary
Fujitsu’s UK boss admitted that the IT company missed an opportunity to take action and prevent subpostmasters from being convicted for financial crimes after its software showed unexplained shortfalls in branch accounts. During a High Court trial in 2006, where Castleton represented himself, the Post Office failed to disclose evidence that would have supported his claims that the shortfalls were caused by Horizon errors, not him or his staff. In the document, Chambers, then a member of Fujitsu’s software support centre (SSC), explained her reluctance to go to court after being given assurances by a solicitor for the Post Office that this would not be the case and that her evidence was just a formality. She reported: “Fortunately, I do have extensive knowledge of the system and was able to fulfil the wider role – but what would have happened if the initial call had been handled by a less experienced SSC person?” She added: “If there is a similar case in the future, where the system is being blamed, would it not be sensible to have a technical review of all the evidence at the first indication that a case may be going to court? Computer Weekly first exposed the scandal in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered as a result of the Horizon system (see timeline of all articles below).