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SUMMARY OF FACTS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH
THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE RULES 2011
POST OFFICE LIMITED V GRANT IAN ALLEN
This case concerns an investigation into audit shortages at the
Winsford Post Office, Cheshire. The defendant who is aged 45
- GRO ) had been the sub-postmaster since November
2009. He retained a number of staff to assist him, but as the sub-
postmaster he was responsible for maintaining the accounts in
respect of Post Office transactions.
Post Office Limited uses a computerised accounting system known
as Horizon. The system is used to conduct and record all
transactions carried out over the counter, and thus can provide
information as to the current position with regard to stock and
cash held at a Post Office at any one time. The sub-postmaster is
required to provide accurate daily cash declarations and at the end
of every 4 to 5 week trading period perform a balance of the
accounts, producing a Branch Trading Statement declaring the
correct amount of cash and stock held. Any identified shortage has
to be made good by the sub-postmaster at the time of the shortage.
The audit was conducted on the 8% February 2012. Shortly after it
commenced, Mr. Allen admitted to Mr. Cross, the auditor that the
branch would be about £10000 short. Due to financial difficulties
he had been unable to make good the shortages, and so inflated
the cash on hand figures accordingly. He hoped for a re-payment
from Post Office Limited to make good these shortages. He
refused to sign a record of conversation (RC/1) to this affect, but
subsequently confirmed the conversation as correct in his
interview.
The audit identified an overall loss of £17,811.49. Of this, £4645.24
had previously been declared to Post Office Limited and settled
centrally, although this remained unpaid. Mr. Allen explained that
it related to costs incurred during branch relocation and was a
debt due to the building contractors ROMEC, but that he was in
dispute with them over the quality of the work conducted. His
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particular stock unit KK had a cash shortage of £11705 and the
remainder of the audit discrepancy was found in the postage, cash
and stock spread across the other 8 stock units but in due course
this was not seen as attributable to him.
Post Office Limited investigators were notified of the position,
who then contacted the defendant and arranged to interview him
under caution on the 19 April 2012.
In interview, Mr Allen stated that shortly after taking over in
November 2009 it had cost him £100000 to relocate in March 2010,
and that during the first 4 weeks there were wiring problems with
the terminals, which he believed meant Horizon was not sending
out (Polling) data. In that period a £3000 discrepancy arose in the
accounts which he claimed could not otherwise be explained. He
never made good that loss believing a transaction correction
would resolve the issue in due course. In each subsequent
balancing period, anything other than insignificant discrepancies
of £50 or less were added onto this original £3000 loss. All such
discrepancies were transferred across to his stock unit.
He admitted that he inflated his cash on hand to achieve a balance
putting the approximate amount on the unusable notes line from
April 2010 to February 2012. When cash was checked
independently during migration to an updated system “Horizon
online” in 2010 he reintroduced cash already counted into his
stock unit to make it balance. He denied stealing any money from
the Post Office. He denied knowing that falsifying the accounts
was a criminal offence believing that it was merely a contractual
matter. He confirmed the Record of Conversation (RC/1) as
correct. He admitted the figures in the 6 Branch Trading
Statements he was shown were inflated. He was not in a position
to repay the money.
Mr. Allen’s contract was subsequently terminated.
In the event of conviction there will be an application for
compensation and an application to cover the costs of the
investigation and prosecution.