Post Office fraud investigator ‘forced disabled postmistress to use parcel lift’

Post Office investigators were accused of behaving like “Mafia gangsters” as their “bullying” tactics were laid bare at the public inquiry into the scandal on Thursday.

The inquiry into the Horizon scandal heard that Stephen Bradshaw, a security manager who helped prosecute nine sub-postmasters, forced one disabled postmistress to use a parcel lift and called another a “b—h”.

The “intimidating” tactics of Mr Bradshaw, who is still employed by the Post Office, were revealed as Downing Street said that the bill for compensating wronged sub-postmasters will top £1 billion.

Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said that the Prime Minister “fully intends” to pursue Fujitsu for reparations to cover the cost, should it be found culpable in the scandal.

The Japanese firm’s faulty Horizon accounting software wrongly made it look like money was missing from Post Office accounts, resulting in more than 900 branch managers being prosecuted for financial crimes, with more than 700 convictions.

Executives and investigators who were handed bonuses for convicting innocent sub-postmasters may also have to repay the cash, a spokesman for Mr Sunak said on Thursday.

The Telegraph can also reveal that the Post Office avoided investigating issues with Horizon over fears that it would undermine prosecutions five years before the witch-hunt ended.

As the public inquiry resumed on Thursday for the first time since the ITV drama which reignited the scandal aired, Angela van den Bogerd, who was in charge of handling complaints to the Post Office about Horizon at the height of the prosecutions, broke cover for the first time.

She claimed that the depiction of her in Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which showed her hounding the widow of a postmaster who took his own life, was not accurate.

Mr Bradshaw, who has been at the Post Office since 1978, denied that “investigators behaved like Mafia gangsters looking to collect their bounty with the threats and lies”.

The claim was made by Jacqueline McDonald, who denied responsibility for a supposed shortfall of more than £94,000 from her Post Office branch.

When Mr Bradshaw accused her of telling him a “pack of lies”, she responded: “No, I haven’t told you a pack of lies because I haven’t stolen a penny.”

Julian Blake, the counsel to the inquiry, said that Mr Bradshaw’s words sounded “somewhat like language you might see in a 1970s television detective show”.

Ms McDonald was jailed in 2011 and sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to theft and false accounting over losses recorded by Horizon at the Post Office branch she ran in Broughton.

Her conviction was overturned just over a decade later.

Rita Threlfall, who is wheelchair dependent, said she was put in a “tiny parcel lift” as she could not take the stairs to a room where she was interviewed by Mr Bradshaw in August 2010.

“Upon arrival, they left my husband and me in a hallway,” her witness statement said. “We asked for a chair and never received one. I ended up having to sit down on the stairs.

Ms Threlfall, 65, was fired from her job as postmaster at Ford Road Post Office, Litherland, and charged with false accounting and theft over a £35,000 shortfall at her branch caused by a faulty IT system. Her conviction was later overturned.

“The interview room was up the stairs. I told them there was no way I could make it up the stairs. In order to make it to the interview room, I was placed in a tiny parcel lift.”

She is “still shaken” by the experience and suffers “crippling anxiety and depression” which “arises in large part from the way in which [Mr Bradshaw] treated her,” the inquiry heard.

Shazia Saddiq, another former postmistress, said she received “intimidating” calls from the investigator, who called her a “b—h” on one occasion in November 2016.

She told the hearing: “Stephen Bradshaw called me and I refused to speak to him because I did not know who he was or who he worked for.

“In that telephone call… he called me a b—h which I found extremely distressing.”

Mr Bradshaw refuted the succession of claims, saying that Ms Threlfall was taken to her interview in a “wheelchair accessible” lift rather than one used for post and that Ms Saddiq’s claims that he “hounded” her were “completely untrue”, insisting he would always identify himself during phone calls.

His appearance came as a leaked letter revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service admitted it may have been involved in 99 Post Office prosecutions involving the defective system.

The figure suggests that more sub-postmasters were prosecuted by the CPS while Sir Keir Starmer was director of public prosecutions than previously thought.

On Thursday, Downing Street opened the door to pursuing former Post Office investigators for financial redress once the inquiry is over.

The Telegraph reported earlier this week that Post Office investigators were offered cash incentives for every postmaster conviction they secured during the scandal.

Asked whether they should be forced to repay their bonuses, Mr Sunak’s spokesman said: “We will use the facts established by the inquiry to hold those individuals and businesses, should they be found culpable, to account whether it be financially, legally or otherwise.”

Mr Sunak announced on Wednesday that he will issue a blanket exoneration, with sub-postmasters receiving £600,000 in compensation in exchange for signing a document declaring their innocence.

Chris Jackson, a partner at Burges Salmon LLP, which replaced Herbert Smith Freehills as the Post Office’s legal representative from September last year will appear at the inquiry on Friday.

04:53 PM GMTThe inquiry has ended for the day

Thank you for following our live coverage of the Horizon IT Inquiry.

Here is a recap of key moments from the day.

Mr Bradshaw said he was not made aware of any problems “from the top” about the faulty Horizon IT software.

Investigators working on behalf of the Post Office were described as “behaving like Mafia gangsters”.

Fazakerley Post Office branch in Liverpool were “too terrified” to report the losses and were in tears when two auditors and two investigators including Mr Bradford visited the branch.

There was nothing on the call logs to show that there were any issues with the Horizon system, Mr Bradshaw claimed.

04:25 PM GMTBradshaw made a wheelchair-bound former subpostmistress take a ‘tiny parcel lift’ to an interview, inquiry hears

During another interview in August 2010, Mr Bradshaw made a former subpostmistress who was wheelchair-bound take a “tiny parcel lift” to the interview room as she could not take the stairs.

Mr Bradshaw said he had a picture of the lift and could prove that this was not the case, however the inquiry was told that the Post Office has not challenged the account of the former subpostmistress.

04:22 PM GMTBradshaw called former postmistress Shazia Sadiq a ‘b—-‘ in phone call, inquiry hears

Mr Bradshaw called former postmistress Shazia Sadiq a “b—-“ during a phone call in 2016, the inquiry heard.

Ms Sadiq said in her witness statement that she had received “threatening calls” from Stephen Bradshaw and his colleague Brian Trotter.

She wrote: “I have received particularly intimidating telephone calls from Stephen Bradshaw who began calling me before I knew he worked for the Post Office. He did not identify himself in the calls, he just made demands of me.”

She claims Mr Bradshaw called her more than 60 times, but he denied that he had “hounded her”.

Further on in the witness statement, Mrs Shazia said that in November 2016, Mr Bradshaw called her and “I refused to speak to him”.

She claims he called her a “b—-” in the phone, which she had on loudspeaker to her husband, adding that she found the incident “extremley distressing”.

Mr Bradshaw said this was “completely untrue”.

04:06 PM GMT’Nothing on call logs to show issues with Horizon system’, Bradshaw tells inquiry

There was nothing on the call logs to show that there were any issues with the Horizon system, Mr Bradshaw has claimed.

Edward Henry KC, who is representing five former sub postmasters and subpostmistresses, put it to Mr Bradshaw that his security department was “drenched in information that Horizon wasn’t working from the very beginning”, and thousands of “anguished and perplexed” calls were made to the Horizon helpdesk while investigations were going on.

Mr Bradshaw said the call logs would have been requested by his department, however: “There was nothing on the call logs to indicate that there was any issues with Horizon”.

03:54 PM GMTMr Bradshaw’s name cropped up ‘again and again’ in subpostmaster complaints, inquiry hears

The inquiry heard how Mr Bradshaw’s name seemed to “crop up again and again” in letters of complaint by former subpostmasters regarding his conduct in investigations.

One former subpostmistress wrote in a letter of complaint, after Mr Bradshaw and his colleague Caroline Richards visited her post office branch and shut it down, that she found Mr Bradshaw “very confrontational”.

She also claims Mr Bradshaw told her that she was not allowed to seek legal advice, which she said was a “complete lie”.

Mr Bradshaw said her claims were “not totally accurate”.

03:38 PM GMTSub-postmasters told don’t blame Horizon for guilty pleas, inquiry hears

Sub-postmasters were told they must declare Horizon was not to blame when pleading guilty to fraud charges, the Post Office Inquiry was told.

Post Office representatives said they would consider admissions if it was stipulated that there was “nothing wrong with Horizon”, the inquiry heard.

In documents shown to the inquiry regarding the case of former subpostmistress Katherine Jane McQue, in 2011, it was noted that there had been some discussions between all parties to the case regarding defence pleas.

One states: “An indication was given that a plea to count 2 fraud might be acceptable so long as the defendant stipulated in her basis of plea that there was nothing wrong with Horizon and that she was responsible for the loss and recognised the confiscation would be sought should the loss not be repaid.”

Mr Bradshaw was asked by inquiry counsel: “Is it appropriate for someone representing the post office to say we will accept your plea but only if you don’t blame Horizon?”

He replied: “Probably not”.

Sub-postmasters and postmistresses were previously advised to plead guilty to false accounting to avoid prison

03:25 PM GMTPost Office lawyer – Bradshaw ‘wasn’t much of an investigator’

Stephen Bradshaw appeared to take exception at suggestions from a Post Office lawyer that he “wasn’t much of an investigator”.

Mr Blake said Andrew Bolc, a solicitor with Cartwright King, suggested using speech marks around the word investigator when he gave evidence to the inquiry at an earlier hearing

“That’s Mr Bolc’s opinion. I could say the same about Mr Bolc but I’m not going down that line. If he wants to say that that’s fine.” Mr Bradshaw responded.

He added he wasn’t “prepared” to get into Mr Bolc’s character.

Mr Blake then pressed Mr Bradshaw to share his views on Mr Bolc’s abilities in his role but Mr Bradshaw declined to give an opinion.

02:39 PM GMTBradshaw – Horizon was secondary issue to my inquiry

Stephen Bradshaw is being challenged on why he didn’t pursue Ms Nield’s suspicions about the Horizon system which was raised in her defence.

He repeatedly tells Mr Blake that the inquiry he was leading was the non-payment of cash deposits and that issues surrounding Horizon were separate.

Mr Bradshaw declared he does not have the authority to prosecute and that he just gathered the evidence for Post Office lawyers to make a decision.

02:30 PM GMTSub-postmistresses ‘too terrified’ to report unexplained shortfall

Inquiry counsel Julian Blake is now discussing the case of Angela Sefton and Anne Nield who both received suspended prison sentences in 2013 after they pleaded guilty to false accounting. Their convictions were later quashed by the Court of Appeal.

The women both worked at the Fazakerley Post Office branch in Liverpool. Call logs show problems with Horizon were reported to the Post Office between 2005 and 2011.

The women used credit cards and holiday money to try and balance an unexplained shortfall of £34,000 which led them to delay other payments.

The inquiry was told the women were “too terrified” to report the losses and were in tears when two auditors and two investigators including Mr Bradford visited the branch.

02:04 PM GMTHorizon Inquiry resumes after lunch

The Horizon IT Inquiry has resumed after the lunch break.

01:46 PM GMTTelegraph readers give verdict on Stephen Bradshaw

Below the line, readers are discussing Stephen Bradshaw, a senior Post Office investigator, giving evidence at the public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

Paula T

It is both incredible and unbelievable that no-one at any level of management did not wonder why dozens of reliable postmasters suddenly had financial shortfalls upon implementation of new accounting software.There is no such thing as coincidence in such matters. I am sure, if the police had been involved, rather than PO internal investigators, this possibility would have been followed up.

Jacky P 

Talk about not fit for purpose. If you have thousands of postmasters being accused of stealing, didn’t it occur to him there were a few problems with the system?

These people are getting paid huge sums of money but have worthless talent and morality.

Ian S 

I can almost understand why the Post Office investigators didn’t look at Horizon if they were told it was 100 per cent working. We’ve seen that they tend to follow rather than challenge direction.

However, why didn’t the judges or the defence council bring this at all to any of the trials? Surely the prosecution would have to prove that it was the postmaster at fault and that would require eliminating Horizon as a potential issue ? I am confused why this was never challenged even by the judiciary.

Join the conversation in the comments section below – just look for the speech bubble icon underneath the first post of the day.

01:31 PM GMTInquiry adjourns for lunch

The Horizon IT Inquiry has now broken for lunch.

Let’s look back at some of the key moments from Stephen Bradshaw’s evidence on Thursday morning.

Investigators working on behalf of the Post Office were described as “behaving like Mafia gangsters”, the Horizon IT public inquiry has heard.

Sub-postmistress Jacqueline McDonald claimed she was “bullied” by Stephen Bradshaw during an interview over an alleged shortfall at her branch in Broughton, Lancashire after he accused her of telling him a “pack of lies”.

In the statement, she said: “Shortly after I had been audited and my post office was taken away from me, I read an article in a magazine which highlighted other people who have suffered or are about to suffer the same hell I was going through. I then got in touch with the writer of the article who then put me in touch with the JFSA (Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance).

“This was a very big surprise to me as I was led to believe by the investigator for the POL Stephen Bradshaw that I was the only one in this position and this has never happened before.”

Mr Bradshaw said he was not made aware of any problems “from the top” about the faulty Horizon IT software, the public inquiry heard.

At the beginning of his evidence, inquiry counsel Julian Blake asked him: “Do you think that you have given enough thought over the past 20 years as to whether you may have been involved in what has been described as one of the largest miscarriages of justice in British history?”

Mr Bradshaw replied: “It would appear that through not being given any knowledge from top downwards that if any bugs, errors or defects were there it’s not been cascaded down from Fujitsu, the Post Office board down to our level as the investigations manager.

“I had no reason to suspect at the time that there was anything wrong with the Horizon system because we’d not been told. The investigations were done correctly.”

Mr Bradshaw refuted the claim that Post Office investigators would get paid more depending on the number of successful prosecutions they had.

He told the inquiry: “I’m paid whether one case is done, one thousand cases, or no cases.”

He said the security team employees were not paid bonuses based on prosecutions, but on their performance in the job.

The inquiry previously heard that Post Office investigators were awarded bonuses based on their successful prosecutions and the amount of monies they were able to recover.

12:41 PM GMTHorizon investigation branded ‘fishing expedition’

While discussing Mr Ishaq’s case, an email from his defence team attempting to find out information about Horizon was described as a “fishing expedition” by Post Office lawyers.

In an email from Martin Smith, a lawyer at the Cartwright King firm, sent in 2012 to two people including Mr Bradshaw, claimed that defence teams were trying to uncover further information on the IT system.

“The defence are clearly aware of the current Horizon issues and are on a fishing expedition,” he wrote, adding: “This is in my view is a red herring”.

12:33 PM GMTSub-postmistress – ‘He’s never going to show remorse’

Janet Skinner, a sub-postmistress who was investigated by Stephen Bradshaw, said “he’s never going to show remorse” as he gives evidence to the Horizon IT Inquiry.

Ms Skinner, who was jailed in 2007 for nine months after a shortfall of £59,000 from her Hull Post Office was discovered, made the remarks this afternoon to the BBC.

The inquiry heard this morning that Mr Bradshaw had told Ms Skinner to “get up earlier” during her taped interview while she was under investigation.

12:24 PM GMTInquiry returns

The Inquiry has returned from a break and Mr Blake is now discussing the case of Khayyam Ishaq, who was jailed for 54 weeks for theft and false accounting in 2013 before his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Mr Ishaq was suspended from his Post Office branch in Birkenshaw, West Yorkshire, in 2011.

In an extract seen by the inquiry, Mr Bradshaw was questioned over a statement he gave that found there were no problems or discrepancies during the transfer of cash and stock following Mr Ishaq’s suspension.

Mr Bradshaw was told it would be “sensible” to obtain statements from the subsequent postmaster confirming there were no issues with Horizon. 

12:09 PM GMTInquiry adjourns

The Inquiry has adjourned for a short break.

12:08 PM GMTInvestigator used McDonald prosecution to boost career, Inquiry hears

Stephen Bradshaw used the prosecution of Jacqueline McDonald to boost his own career after he challenged a barrister to press on with a criminal case because the issue of “Horizon integrity would have a wider impact on the business”.

Counsel to the inquiry Julian Blake showed Mr Bradshaw his “self-appraisal” of Jacqueline McDonald’s case, in which he said: “The offender pleaded guilty to false accounting but would not accept theft.

“I challenged the recommendations of the barrister and persuaded him that a trial would be necessary, as the reason given by the defendant, Horizon integrity, would have a wider impact on the business if a trial did not go ahead.”

Mr Blake then asked the witness: “It seems, certainly from your own feedback, from your own appraisal, that you saw it as in some way career-boosting to press on with Ms McDonald’s case because of problems with the Horizon system having a wider impact on the business, do you not accept that?”

Mr Bradshaw responded: “The issue would been discussed with the prosecution barrister, as you’re well aware, when you’re filling in one-to-ones, there’s always a flamboyant way of putting the words across.”

11:55 AM GMTInvestigator accused of being ‘a liar’ by sub-postmistress

Stephen Bradshaw giving evidence at the Horizon IT inquiry

Jacqueline McDonald accused Mr Bradshaw of being a liar, the Horizon Inquiry was told.

The hearing was told extracts from a statement made by Ms McDonald claimed she was “bullied” by Mr Bradshaw while Post Office investigators behaved “like Mafia gangsters”.

In the statement, she said: “Shortly after I had been audited and my post office was taken away from me, I read an article in a magazine which highlighted other people who have suffered or are about to suffer the same hell I was going through. I then got in touch with the writer of the article who then put me in touch with the JFSA (Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance).

“This was a very big surprise to me as I was led to believe by the investigator for the POL Stephen Bradshaw that I was the only one in this position and this has never happened before.

“Stephen Bradshaw is a liar and he knew the whole time as I am friends with another person he has prosecuted that was a member of the JFSA. It is just unbelievable how I was made to feel like I was the only one and it made me isolated and paranoid.”

Giving evidence on Thursday, Mr Bradshaw said: “I’ve never said that to her. That’s incorrect, that statement.”

11:49 AM GMTInvestigator – I wasn’t incentivised by prosecutions

Mr Bradshaw refuted the claim that Post Office investigators would get paid more depending on the number of successful prosecutions they had.

He told the inquiry: “I’m paid whether one case is done, one thousand cases, or no cases.”

He said the security team employees were not paid bonuses based on prosecutions, but on their performance in the job.

The inquiry previously heard that Post Office investigators were awarded bonuses based on their successful prosecutions and the amount of monies they were able to recover.

11:36 AM GMTPost Office investigators ‘behaved like Mafia gangsters’

Mr Blake is now discussing the case of Jacqueline McDonald, a sub-postmistress, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2011.

Ms McDonald pleaded guilty to theft and to six counts of false accounting following a £94,000 shortfall at her Post Office branch in Broughton, Lancashire.

Ms McDonald, who reported she was having difficulties with Horizon, was forced to declare bankruptcy.

Mr Bradshaw accused Ms McDonald of telling him a “pack of lies” during an interview.

Jacqueline McDonald claimed she was “bullied” by Mr Bradshaw during an investigation into her alleged shortfall and also accused Post Office investigators of “behaving like Mafia gangsters”.

11:16 AM GMTInvestigator told sub-postmistress ‘get up earlier’ to keep branch open

Sub-postmistress Janet Skinner spent three months in prison

Inquiry counsel Julian Blake has now moved onto the case of Janet Skinner, a sub-postmistress who was one of the victims in the scandal.

Ms Skinner, 52, was sentenced to nine months in prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to one count of false accounting over an alleged shortfall of £59,000 from her Post Office branch in Bransholme, Hull.

She served three months in prison before being released and had her conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 2021.

Ms Skinner was told in her police-style interview to “get up earlier” by investigator Stephen Bradshaw.

Asked by inquiry counsel if he believed it was appropriate to give someone “lifestyle advice” in such an interview, Mr Bradshaw said: “I can’t help my terminology, we all come from different parts of the country and we all have different ways of expressing it. I apologise if they don’t like that sort of terminology.”

However, he defended his choice of words, telling the inquiry: “If you can’t get up and you’re always late, you could lose the post office just by opening late.”

11:04 AM GMTInvestigator had ‘no concerns’ when post-mistress told she was ‘only one’ with Horizon issues

Lisa Brennan was falsely accused of stealing £3,000

Mr Bradshaw defended how he and his colleague told sub-postmistress Lisa Brennan that she was “the only one” having issues with the Horizon system.

Ms Brennan, a former counter clerk at a post office in Huyton, near Liverpool, was falsely accused of stealing £3,000 in 2003.

It has been widely reported and criticised that hundreds of sub-postmasters were told during the scandal that they were alone in having shortfalls and issues with Horizon.

During Ms Brennan’s taped interview, Mr Bradshaw’s colleague was recorded as saying “no one else is making mistakes like you”.

Mr Bradshaw told the inquiry that his colleague meant she was “the only one in that particular branch” having those issues.

He told the inquiry: “It has to be taken in the right context in that branch that she was the only one who was having issues with the pension allowance submissions.”

Mr Bradshaw said he has “no concerns” with that phrase having been used, and said he believed he and his colleague’s behaviour was “professional” in the interview.

10:59 AM GMTInvestigator – Not appropriate that PR chief helped draft witness statement

Mr Bradshaw has told the Horizon IT inquiry it was not appropriate that a witness statement bearing his name was drafted with the help of the Post Office’s head of PR.

He said he was not aware the contents of his statement that said he had “absolute confidence” in the Horizon system was worked by Ronan Kelleher, insisted he only saw the final version presented by solicitors Cartwright King.

Asked by inquiry counsel Julian Blake whether he thought it was appropriate for the Post Office head of PR to be among those who drafted his statement, Mr Bradshaw said: “No, not really.”

“It’s not my words, a statement is usually what you say to me and I would write that down. This appears to a business statement drafted by PR and approved by lawyers,” he added.

10:40 AM GMTInvestigator – I didn’t write statement about ‘absolute confidence’ in Horizon

Mr Bradshaw said he and his colleagues on the Post Office security team were told by solicitors Cartwright King to state in a 2013 witness statement used in criminal proceedings that there was “absolute confidence in the robustness and integrity of the Horizon system”.

“We were told by Cartwright King to put that in”, he said.

“Nowadays I wouldn’t have put that in at all, with what’s known, in hindsight,” he added.

“With hindsight it’s regrettable that the statement went though like that as if it’s my words, which is not correct.”

He said the statement, which was used in criminal proceedings, was drafted by Cartwright King and Post Office, who simply asked him to sign his name to it.

Pressed by Julian Blake on whether the statement caused him to reflect, Mr Bradshaw said “of course” it caused moments of reflection because the information is “completely wrong”.

10:31 AM GMTHorizon problems never relayed to me, investigator tells inquiry

A senior Post Office investigator has said he was not made aware of any problems “from the top” about the faulty Horizon IT software, the public inquiry has heard.

Stephen Bradshaw said he had never been alerted to problems with Horizon and that all investigations were carried out correctly.

Asked by inquiry counsel Julian Blake if he had given “enough thought” to whether he may have been involved, he said he was not given any knowledge “from the top downwards” about bugs, errors and defects with the IT system.

He told the inquiry he had “no reason” to suspect there was anything wrong with Horizon”, adding: “If I wasn’t told about the issues with the Horizon system, I can’t put that down [in his witness statement].”

10:22 AM GMTWho is Stephen Bradshaw?

Stephen Bradshaw arrives at the Horizon Inqiuiry

Mr Bradshaw has told the Horizon Inquiry he has worked for the Post Office since 1978 and is currently employed as a security manager.

Working in various roles including telegraph officer and counter clerk, Mr Bradshaw said he began working as a fraud investigator in the 200s before his job title changed.

Mr Bradshaw was involved in the criminal investigation of nine sub-postmasters, including Lisa Brennan, a former counter clerk at a post office in Huyton, near Liverpool, who was falsely accused of stealing £3,000 in 2003.

10:13 AM GMTStephen Bradshaw sworn into Horizon Inquiry

Mr Bradshaw is about to give evidence after he is sworn into the Horizon IT Inquiry.

10:12 AM GMTHorizon Inquiry set for break

Sir Wyn Williams, the chairman of the public inquiry, has started to address the Horizon Inquiry and tells the hearing there will be a break after phase 4 finishes early next month.

During his opening remarks, he says he cannot specify how long is needed before the Inquiry begins phases, 5, 6 and 7, which will delve into the activities of government departments and civil servants, but that he hoped it would be in the spring and summer this year.

Sir Wyn added his wife was “alarmed” to read a report that phase 6 was not expected to start before spring next year, insisting despite “severe pressure” he hoped it would commence long before that.

10:03 AM GMTHorizon Inquiry resumes

The public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal is under way at Aldwych House.

Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw will give evidence on Thursday and is the only witness scheduled to appear.

The inquiry is being streamed on YouTube.

09:31 AM GMTPost Office handed out bonuses for convictions

Before we turn attentions to the Horizon IT inquiry, let’s take a look at our front page story on Thursday

Gary Thomas, who worked in the Post Office security team, branded all sub-postmasters ‘crooks’ in emails concerning one victim who was posthumously cleared

Post Office investigators were offered cash bonuses for every sub-postmaster convicted during the Horizon scandal, it has emerged, report Blathnaid Corless, Fiona Parker and Robert Mendick.

Alan Bates, the sub-postmaster who led the campaign for justice, joined a deluge of criticism over the practice on Wednesday, saying offering financial incentives for prosecutions was “appalling” as he highlighted the “horrendous” culture of the Post Office.

Investigators with the Post Office described the incentive scheme as “part of the business”, with everyone in the security team “on a bonus”.

Gary Thomas, who worked in the Post Office security team between 2000 and 2012, told the Post Office Horizon inquiry that the bonus targets affected how he went about his work.

Mr Thomas branded all sub-postmasters “crooks” in emails concerning one victim who was posthumously cleared. The messages were handed to the inquiry, which resumes on Thursday.

Read more here.

09:16 AM GMTSub-postmistress breaks down during BBC interview

A sub-postmistress wept as she recounted how the Horizon scandal had left her “living hand to mouth” for 15 years and insisted an upfront payment of £75,000 wasn’t enough.

Sarah Burgess-Boyde broke down in tears while being interviewed by the BBC as she told how she had “lost everything” after a shortfall was investigated at her branch in Newcastle.

Mrs Burgess-Boyde was investigated by auditors in 2009 and later charged with fraud over the deficit but was acquitted two years later when the Post Office presented no evidence in court.

“I lost everything. I lost my business, all my savings. I haven’t got a penny to my name.”

She said that while she was pleased by the move to exonerate convicted sub-postmasters and provide them with financial redress, the £75,000 available to those not convicted of a criminal offence “doesn’t cut it”.

Mrs Burgess-Boyde, who said she was almost 60, said she wanted financial stability so she could enjoy the rest of her life.

08:51 AM GMTLord Arbuthnot – ‘I don’t have sense Post Office culture has improved’

Lord Arbuthnot said he does not believe the culture at the Post Office has improved in the wake of the Horizon scandal.

The former Conservative MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think they are chastened. I think they are becoming as ashamed as they really should be.

“But those investigators were not actually investigating. They were just trying to recover money.

“When people called in the investigators for help, because the Horizon system was going so very badly wrong, they got no help, they were just told ‘Where did you take the money? Where did you put it? Give us the money’, and the post offices were often closed down.

“It was a shocking story, really horrible.”

08:49 AM GMTHorizon Inquiry – what is happening today?

The first hearing of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry in 2024 will take place at Aldwych House in London from 10am on Thursday.

Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw is the only individual scheduled to give evidence

Mr Bradshaw was involved in the criminal investigation of nine sub-postmasters, including Lisa Brennan, a former counter clerk at a post office in Huyton, near Liverpool, who was falsely accused of stealing £3,000 in 2003.

The inquiry is currently examining action taken against sub-postmasters which includes investigations as well as civil and criminal proceedings.

For a full timetable of witnesses visit the inquiry website here.

08:43 AM GMTLord Arbuthnot – I have faith in Horizon Inquiry

Lord Arbuthnot led an MPs’ campaign in support of subpostmasters

Former Conservative MP Lord Arbuthnot, who previously led an MPs’ campaign in support of sub-postmasters affected by the Post Office scandal, said he has faith in the Horizon inquiry.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that Jason Beer KC is asking really powerful questions, and the sub-postmasters also have people representing them who are also asking really powerful questions of these investigators who lied on an almost daily basis, (and) who were incentivised to get convictions rather than to get justice.

“There are shocking stories coming out, and I have faith in Sir Wyn Williams. He has been doing a really good job in running this public inquiry. I think that most sub-postmasters who have been involved in it also have faith in him.

“I also have faith in the minister, Kevin Hollinrake, because, before he became a minister, he was one of the people who was campaigning most strongly on behalf of the sub-postmasters.”

08:32 AM GMTEverything you need to know about the Post Office Horizon scandal

Mr Bates vs the Post Office, the ITV drama, retold the story of the Post Office Horizon scandal – ITV/Shutterstock/ ITV/Shutterstock

The row over the Post Office scandal and the hundreds of victims who are yet to be fully compensated has dominated headlines over recent days, Fiona Parker reports.

Here are the answers to questions you may have about the Horizon row, which still shows no sign of abating.

Read more here

08:28 AM GMT’What we are trying to do is to deliver justice quickly’

The chair of the independent Horizon compensation advisory board has welcomed the news that hundreds of subpostmasters in England and Wales could have their names cleared by the end of the year under blanket legislation.

Professor Chris Hodges told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “What we are trying to do is to deliver justice quickly to people.

“The problem about delivering compensation to those who have been convicted is that the appeals system in relation to getting their convictions overturned is either taking a very long time, or may never work at all.

“I had written to the Lord Chancellor in December to say this is a real problem, the system is not working, that it may never work for these people.

“It will certainly take years. So I am delighted, as are my colleagues on the advisory board.”

08:18 AM GMTEmergency legislation ‘controversial but only way forward’

Responding to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement in the Commons that those previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law, Mr Jones said he believed the move was “controversial”, but admitted that “it’s the only way forward”.

“You’ve got a situation where people, who are still out there, who didn’t come forward to have their convictions overturned, because they would not be able to face a court of law.

“Likewise, we’ve got a situation where evidence has been destroyed. So how you would do an appeal for some of these individuals, it would be very difficult.

“There’s no straightforward way of getting these convictions overturned. It might be messy around the edges”.

08:16 AM GMTFujitsu accused of ‘hiding behind’ Horizon inquiry

Fujitsu

Labour MP Kevan Jones last night accused Fujitsu, the Japanese-owned firm which developed the Horizon software, of “hiding behind” the public inquiry.

Mr Jones, a member of the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, said Fujitsu should not be awarded any new government contracts “ until they come clean on this one”,

He told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight programme: “There are quite a few people who took decisions and were in a position of responsibility who have got to explain why they did what they did.

“The Inquiry’s got to get that out in the open, and ultimately, as many of the victims want, those who were responsible for this have got to be held to account”.

08:07 AM GMTWhat is the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry?

The statutory inquiry, which began in 2021 and is chaired by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams, has previously looked at the human impact of the scandal, the Horizon system roll-out and the operating of the system, and is now probing the action taken against subpostmasters.

The probe was established to ensure there is a “public summary of the failings which occurred with the Horizon IT system at the Post Office” and subsequently led to the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters.

His evidence will form part of phase four of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry which began in July last year and is looking at the action that was taken against subpostmasters including audits, investigations and criminal proceedings.

Phase four of the inquiry is due to last until the beginning of next month.

Stephen Bradshaw was due to answer questions in November, but disclosure failings from the Post Office meant the hearing was delayed until Thursday.

07:55 AM GMTPost Office investigator to give evidence at Horizon inquiry

A Post Office investigator described as having a “heavy footprint” in the Horizon IT scandal will give evidence today at the inquiry’s first hearing of the year.

Stephen Bradshaw was involved in the criminal investigation of nine sub-postmasters, including Lisa Brennan, a former counter clerk at a post office in Huyton, near Liverpool, who was falsely accused of stealing £3,000 in 2003.

His evidence will form part of phase four of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry which began in July last year and is looking at the action that was taken against subpostmasters including audits, investigations and criminal proceedings.

Lead counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC previously described Mr Bradshaw as having a “heavy footprint” in the scandal. Mr Bradshaw was due to answer questions in November, but disclosure failings from the Post Office meant the hearing was delayed until Thursday.

07:53 AM GMTGood morning

The Telegraph will be providing live updates on the Horizon IT scandal throughout the day.

Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw will give evidence at an inquiry launched in 2021 that will examine what action was taken against sub-postmasters.

On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak pledged to bring in a new emergency law to exonerate those caught up in the Horizon scandal after an ITV drama sparked outcry.

Downing Street said the ambition is to quash the convictions “this year”, with legislation tabled within weeks.

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