POL00047942
POL00047942
Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss
5A(3)(a)
and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Statement of Deborah Alison Edwards
Age if under (If over 18 insert ‘over 18')
18
This statement (consisting of 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 day 2006
the of
Signatur
e
I have been employed by Post Office Ltd for 16 years. For the last 11 years,
I have undertaken the role of Branch Auditor. The purpose of this role is to
verify the assets held at the Post Office Branches are correct and that the
transactions are performed to the required specification to ensure the
security of the Post Office, it’s customers and it’s clients.
On Thursday October 13'" 2006, I arrived at Gaerwen Post Office in
Holyhead, accompanied by my colleague Malcolm Rannard to undertake an
audit at the branch. Upon our arrival, the Subpostmaster, Mr Thomas,
stated he was glad to see us as he had been having a few problems. The
cash was checked by Mr Rannard and was found to be short by £48,157.79.
Signature Signature witnessed by
S011 (Side A) Version 3.0 11/02
POL00047942
POL00047942
Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Deborah Alison Edwards
I asked Mr Thomas if there was any more cash on hand in the office. He
stated that is part of the problems, it’s been going on for a year or so, I think
something is wrong with the computers. I asked Mr Thomas how he
completes his balance and he stated I’ve been adding it onto my cash. Mr
Thomas stated that he thought the problem was with on line banking
transactions and that he had been paying out customers an amount of
money but the Horizon system was showing 0.00. Mr Thomas stated that he
thinks that is why he was short. I asked Mr Rannard to make some checks
regarding the on line banking transactions.
I checked the stock element of the assets and found the postage to be short
by £297.08. A shortage of £48,454.87 was posted to the late account.
I obtained a signed statement by Mr Thomas regarding the conversation
that took place earlier during the audit. This I produce as AE1.
I informed the Contracts Manager, Mr Emlyn Hughes of the problems and
was told that an Interim Subpostmaster, Jim Evans would be arrived to open
the branch for business. The branch reopened at 11.15 hours.
At 12.30 hours, Diane Matthews and Steve Bradshaw from Post Office
Investigations arrived. I was informed at 13.00 hours that the branch would
be closing indefinitely and a second audit was completed. This shown a
gain of £10.30, which was money, owed to the branch by a Giro Business
Customer. This surplus was placed in the late account. All cash and stock
was remitted from the system and secured in the safe for collection on
Tuesday October 18'" 2005.
All current users were deleted from the system.
Signature Signature witnessed by
cSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02
POL00047942
POL00047942
Witness Statement
(CJ Act 1967, s9; MC Act 1980, ss 5A(3)(a) and 5B, MC Rules 1981, r 70)
Continuation of statement of Deborah Alison Edwards
I produced a report detailing the finding of the audit at Gaerwen Post Office
which I produce as AE2.
Signature Signature witnessed by
cSOt1A Version 3.0 11/02