SUMMARY OF FACTS PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH RULE 4(1)(b)
OF THE MAGISTRATES COURTS (ADVANCE INFORMATION) RULES 1985
ROYAL MAIL GROUP pic v HUGHIE NOEL THOMAS
The Defendant is 59 years of age born on the He worked at
Garewen Post Office for a period of 11 years 4 months latterly as Subpostmaster.
Subpostmasters are required to balance their accounts on a weekly basis. The accounting
week runs from Thursday through to Wednesday. Individual weeks are referred to as cash
account periods or CAPS. They are numbered sequentially for the Financial Year.
Subpostmasters are aided in their daily accounting duties by the Horizon computerised cash
account system which records transactions. When balancing at the end of the week
Subpostmasters are required to show all deficiencies in the account. Any losses are required
to be shown and then made good by the Subpostmaster.
Enquiries commenced when an audit of the Office was conducted on Thursday 13” October
2005. The audit revealed a shortage of £48,450.87. Post Office Investigators were
informed and attended at the Office.
Mrs Edwards the Auditor states that the Defendant informed her that he was having trouble
with the Horizon system and that his on-line banking reports had several transactions showing
nil amounts. Further his accounts had been short with losses accruing to over £48,000 over
a period of time. He had been able to balance weekly by inflating his cash on hand figures.
On arrival at the Office Investigators were informed that the Office had been transferred to an
interim Subpostmaster one hour earlier. Whilst the Office was being manned by the interim
Subpostmaster it was noted that a nil transaction was shown on the accounts. This was said
to be attributed to a customer not completing a transaction.
The Defendant was subsequently arrested and taken to Holyhead Police Station where he was
later interviewed in the presence of his Solicitor. During the interview the Defendant answered
certain questions put and replied “No Comment” in relation to others. He did not know when
the loss first started, he was an old fashioned chap who was used to pen and paper rather
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than the computer. He said that there was no paper work directly referring to the losses only
the cash account and the envelopes containing the weekly work.
The Defendant was aware of his obligations as Subpostmaster to account for losses and gains
which occurred. When asked he couldn’t comment as to whether the cash accounts were
accurate. He had tried to make losses good but did not know which weeks he had put
money in and what loss had not been made good. Regarding the specific loss of
£48,454.87. He had not made this good and would not comment as to why there was such
a shortage at the Office.
The Defendant when asked whether he had stolen the money replied “No Comment”.
The Defendant went on to say that he had doubts about the Horizon system. Further he
said that he had concerns about a number of zero entries contained in his weekly on-line
Banking summary. Although the report showed nil transaction on some of the transactions he
had handed over money to customers as the amount had not been registering properly on his
system. He agreed that the majority of his on-line banking transactions did have an amount
and that the zeros were not confined to one specific group. He was shown the cash
accounts for Weeks 28 and 27 and stated that he had prepared both these documents. He
could not remember when the shortages started.
When questioned further the Defendant stated that it was not one large loss that had been
stolen but he did not suspect anyone else in the family. He stated that if the loss was
proven he would accept full responsibilty.
Checks of calls made to the Horizon Helpline revealed that no calls were made by the
Defendant in relation to problems regarding the recording of nil transactions.
There are a number of legitimate reasons why a zero entry might be presented on an on-line
summary. These may be because:-
1 A customer enters an incorrect PIN number.
2 A customer has no funds in their account.
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3 An incorrect PIN number is entered on 3 separate occasions.
4 The card has been stolen or cancelled.
5 The transaction is unauthorised.
Horizon data showing nil transactions have been analysed over a specified period between
November 2004 and October 2005. Fujitsu had no concems regarding the integrity of the
data received from Gaerwen Post Office. Further the Horizon system Helpdesk had not been
alerted to any hardware problems.
A summary of specimen nil transactions is attached. No problems were highlighted with
regards to the integrity of the data or the system. All nil on-line banking transactions
examined have valid reasons for the transactions having no value attached to them. The
majority of declined withdrawals with nil value are immediately followed by an authorised
withdrawal for various amounts and are undertaken by the same Clerk on the same terminal.
Enclosed herewith please find:~-
1 Copy Notes of Interview.
2 Copy Balancing Record of Garewen Post Office.
3 Copy Audit Report.
4 Copy Notebook Entry Officers.
5 Copy FAD160604.
6 Copy Summary of Nil Transactions — 18" November — 24” November 2004, 19" May
— 25" May 2005, 14” September — 12" October 2005.
7 Copy Breakdown of Nil Transactions over the period stated above.
8 Copy Final Cash Accounts for Weeks 27, 28 and 29.
9 Copy Custody Record.
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