Gareth Jenkins, a senior Fujitsu engineer, has refused to accept a High Court judge’s ruling that the Horizon system was not “remotely robust”.
Mr Jenkins, who was part of the team behind the faulty system, is today (Tuesday 25 June) giving evidence at the Post Office inquiry.
Addressing Mr Jenkins, Jason Beer KC asked: “Do I take it that you accept his first finding that Legacy Horizon was not remotely robust?”
Mr Jenkins replied: “I don’t accept that finding.”
When questioned as to whether Horizon was susceptible to accounting flaws, he said: “There were some discrete bugs that caused problems to the accounts, but they were very discrete and I believe they were all well-controlled and managed at the time.”
The Cambridge graduate also dismissed the suggestion that he was the “chief architect” of Horizon, stating it was another engineer, Alan Ward.
Mr Jenkins, Fujitsu’s former chief IT architect, is currently being investigated by the Metropolitan Police for potential perjury.
Between 1999 and 2015 the Post Office accused operators of sub-post offices across the UK of theft, false accounting, and fraud based on information from its Horizon IT system installed in the late 90s.
More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were prosecuted, despite protesting their innocence and raising issues with the software.
Many were jailed, and four affected by to the scandal have taken their own lives, while ministers say compensation has been paid to more than 2,700 claimants.
Mr Jenkins is the latest person to give evidence to the inquiry in what is believed to be the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice.
But who is Mr Jenkins and what is his role in the Horizon IT scandal?
Who is Gareth Jenkins?
A Cambridge mathematics graduate, Mr Jenkins was the tech expert from Berkshire who helped build the faulty Horizon IT system.
A former chief architect at Fujitsu, the 69-year-old is a key witness in the inquiry. He previously gave evidence defending the reliability of the Horizon computer system in trials of subpostmasters which resulted in their wrongful conviction.
Although he has been summoned to give evidence twice in the ongoing public inquiry, both occasions have been postponed. Mr Jenkins has also requested immunity twice.
Refusing his request, Sir Wyn Williams, the inquiry chairman, said: “I am satisfied that Mr Jenkins has not been the victim of unfairness as yet and I am determined that he should not become the victim of unfairness as the work of the inquiry progresses.”
In January, Mr Jenkins refused to answer any questions about the scandal and told The Telegraph when asked if he was sorry about what happened: “I don’t want to talk. I don’t have anything to say to you”.
How has Gareth Jenkins been involved the Post Office inquiry?
Mr Jenkins was a leading expert on the ill-fated system, and provided testimony in a number of high-profile prosecutions.
Over 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses faced wrongful prosecutions due to the flawed software, which indicated discrepancies in their Post Office branch accounts.
However, a report and accompanying memo from Mr Jenkins in 2010, provide evidence that suggests both the Post Office and Fujitsu were aware the Horizon IT system was faulty.
In May, the Horizon Inquiry heard from former head of legal at the Post Office, Hugh Flemington who claims he was shown an email sent by Mr Jenkins on 25 February 2010.
Referring to a trial where he had been asked to give evidence, Mr Jenkins wrote in the email: “This is another example of postmasters trying to get away with ‘Horizon has taken my money’”.
The 2010 memo from Mr Jenkins said that if the bug was widely known, it could cause a “loss of confidence in the Horizon system”.
Nine days after delivering his report, Mr Jenkins submitted his final expert witness testimony, which was used by the prosecution of Seema Misra, a postmistress from West Byfleet who was incarcerated while pregnant.
In 2013, the Post Office cautioned Mr Jenkins for his failure to disclose crucial information, a clear violation of his duty as an expert witness, according to the Post Office.
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