Post Office CTO had 'nagging doubts' about Horizon system despite reliability assurances

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2024-10-17 15:30:05

The former CTO of the Post Office had "nagging doubts" about the Horizon system at the center of one of the most far-reaching miscarriages of justice in UK history, yet he continued to sign off statements to MPs attesting to its security and reliability.

Horizon is an EPOS and back-end finance system for thousands of Post Office branches around the UK, first implemented by ICL, a technology company later bought by Fujitsu. From 1999 until 2015, around 736 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses were wrongfully convicted of fraud when errors in the system were to blame. A statutory inquiry into the mass miscarriage of justice launched in 2021 is ongoing.

During questioning at the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry this week, former IT boss Mike Young agreed it was his responsibility to make sure that what was said to Parliament was absolutely accurate, even though he had no personal contact with MPs about the Horizon system.

Young agreed he was aware of the "robust stance" on Horizon's reliability and security that the Post Office wanted to communicate to the government department responsible and its minister, Ed Davey, after his meeting with Sir Alan Bates, the subpostmaster who led the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA).