Post Office scandal latest: Horizon problems never relayed to me, investigator tells inquiry – watch live

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.”