POLO0056955
POLO0056955
Royal Mail Group
CONFIDENTIAL
Witness Statement
Criminal Justice Act 1967, Section 9; Magistrates Court Act 2980, sub section, 5A(3)a) and 58; Criminal Procedure Rules 2005, Rule 27.1
Statement of: Adam SHAW
Age if under 18: Over 18 (if over 18 insert ‘over 18’)
This statement (consisting of 2 pages each signed by me) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I
make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it
anything which I know to be false or do not believe true.
Dated the 20 day of September 2011
1am the person named above and am currently employed by Post Office Ltd as a Field Support Officer. Part of
my duty is to visit Post Office Branches and reconcile the figures in the Post Office accounts with the physical
cash, stock and paid vouchers actually on hand in order to establish that there is no loss of Post Office funds.
Post Office Branches use a fully automated computerised accounting system known as Horizon. The Post Office
accounting system is such that each Post Office Branch produces a monthly Branch Trading Statement. This
monthly period is known as the Branch Trading Period. Each Branch Trading Period consists of either four or
five weeks, with each week running from start of business on the Thursday to close of business on the
Wednesday.
At the end of each Branch Trading Period, a Trading Statement should be printed and signed by the Postmaster.
The Trading Statement should be a true reflection of all cash and stock on hand and represent all transactions
conducted in that period.
The Horizon system is also able to produce an Office Snapshot, which summarises the state of the accounts,
including the amount of cash required for the accounts to balance, and takes into account all transactions up to
the time the snapshot was generated. An Office Snapshot can be generated at any time.
At 08.30 hrs on 30 March 2011 I attended Rowlands Castle Post Office with my colleague Mrs Sarah Juliff and
introduced ourselves to the postmaster Mrs Lynette Hutchings. Mrs Hutchings was present in the Post Office
secure area when Mrs Juliff and I conducted a full audit in respect of the cash, stock and vouchers held at that
branch. This identified a net deficit in the accounts of £9,743.76, of which £10,868.08 was due to a shortage in
the cash, £905.43 was due to a surplus in the stock, £132.10 was due to a surplus in the postage stamps and
GRO
Signature Signature witnessed by
65011 (Side A) Version 8 Jan 10