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Message
From: Rodric Williams f°
Sent: 24/03/2016 18:
To: Parsons, Andrew j_ Matthews, Gavin [-
Subject: FW: S17 to POL - additional material Feb 2016
Attachments: CCRC Tracker.xlsx; Electronic Field Cabinet Extract Broughton 17.01.16.docx; DOCs ET1 Form.pdf; 19Feb15-Fozia
Rashid, Protected Disclosures (PDF).pdf; CAM_1B-#3966164-v1-Amended_Grounds_of_Resistance_-
_Rashid_POL.PDF; _DOC_31264753(3)_Draft Statement.pdf; 20160314145914393. pdf; 20160314163044923.pdf
Fyi only
From: Rodric Williams
Sent: 14 March 2016 16:45
To: 'PearceA'
Cc: 'frazer.stua
Subject: RE: S17 to POL - additional material Feb 2016
Dear Amanda,
Many thanks for your email below, to which I respond using the same numbering.
1, &3. Tracker document & civil litigation files
The civil litigation material has now been released to you through the Millnet viewing platform. Please find attached an
updated version of the tracker reflecting this.
For the avoidance of any doubt, this email gives formal notice under section 25 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 (CAA)
that there is material within the civil litigation files that is legally privileged and/or confidential, which is not to be
disclosed without our prior consent. Accordingly, should the CCRC wish to disclose material from these files, Post Office
Limited will need to review that material to form a definitive position on privilege/ confidentiality and whether or not it
consents to disclosure.
2. Post Office Security electronic documents
As reported in my 13 January 2016 email to you, we ran searches against seven “theft cases” using the defendant’s
surname and extending 3 years, 2 years and 18 months back from the date of conviction. The results of these searches
are set out for you again in the highlighted sections in the table below.
As requested in your 6 February 2016 email, we have now also run searches extending 3 years from the date of
conviction for each case which has been referred to the CCRC. The results are set out in the table below, along with the
number of responsive documents extending 2 years and 18 months back from the date of conviction, which I have
included for context.
Assuming you are happy to proceed with the 3 year scope, I will ask Millnet to filter the documents accordingly and
group them into sub-folders for your review. Please can you confirm you remain happy with this approach.
I should flag that whereas the searches done for the first seven highlighted cases were conducted across both the Post
Office Security folders (2x) and the Cartwright King data, the searches for the remaining cases were undertaken across
the Post Office Security team folders only, i.e. the search results do not include any responsive documents in the
Cartwright King data. Instead, we intend dealing with the Cartwright King data separately by manually dividing it out
into case-by-case subfolders, given that it should all relate to the prosecution under investigation.
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31/3/2003 to 31/3/2004 to 30/9/2004 to
31/3/2006 2 31/3/2006 2 31/3/2006 2
20/6/1999 to 20/6/2000 to 20/12/2000 to
20/6/2002 ie) 20/6/2002 ie) 20/6/2002 is)
4/2/2005 to 4/2/2006 to 4/2/2008 4/8/2006 to
4/2/2008 241 164 4/2/2008 143
3/6/2008 to 3/6/2009 to 3/12/2009 to 3 /6/
3/6/2011 2565 3/6/2011 2,092 2011 734
30/6/2003 to 30/6/2004 to 30/12/2004 to
30/6/2006 583 30/6/2006 520 30/6/2006 449
23/3/2006 to 4308 23/3/2007 to 23/9/2007 to
23/3/2009 23/3/2009 2983 23/3/2009 1669.
15/6/2006 to 15/6/2007 to 15/12/2007 to
15/6/2009 1039 15/6/2009 877 15/6/2009 743
15/12/2007 to 202 15/12/2008 to 15/6/2009 to
15/12/2010 15/12/2010 171 15/12/2010 167
30/6/2008 to 2656 30/6/2009 to 30/12/2009 to
30/6/2011 30/6/2011 2347 30/6/2011 582
30/11/2009 to 235 30/11/2010 to 30/5/2011 to
30/11/2012 30/11/2012 182 30/11/2012 156
21/1/2008 to 322 21/1/2009 to 21/7/2009 to
21/1/2011 21/1/2011 242 21/1/2011 180
5/1/2004 to 135 5/7/2005 to
5/1/2007 5/1/2005 to 5/1/2007 120 5/1/2007 110
13/8/2009 to 74 13/8/2010 to 13/2/2011 to
13/8/2012 13/8/2012 69 13/8/2012 62
12/1/2009 to 494 12/1/2010 to 12/7/2010 to
42/1/2012 12/1/2012 309 12/1/2012 262
7/3/2010 to 62 7/9/2011 to
7/3/2013 7/3/2011 to 7/3/2013 53 7/3/2013 31
3/6/2008 to 1868 3/12/2009 to
3/6/2011 3/6/2009 to 3/6/2011 1398 3/6/2011 600
22/12/2006 to 494 22/12/2007 to 22/6/2008 to
22/12/2009 22/12/2009 430 22/12/2009 412
22/2/2007 to 304 22/2/2008 to 22/8/2008 to
22/2/2010 22/2/2010 372 22/2/2010 347
21/10/2007 to 244 21/10/2008 to 21/4/2009 to
21/10/2010 21/10/2010 186 21/10/2010 137
29/6/2004 to 368 29/6/2005 to 29/12/2005 to
29/6/2007 29/6/2007 256 29/6/2007 146
23/3/2006 to 68 23/3/2007 to 23/9/2007 to
23/3/2009 23/3/2009 54 23/3/2009 53
7/4/2001 to 32 7/10/2002 to
7/4/2004 7/4/2002 to 7/4/2004 32 7/4/2004 32
7/1/2008 to 393 7/7/2009 to
7/1/2014 7/1/2009 to 7/1/2011 353 7/1/2014 342
4,5 & 6. Prosecution Policies / Assurance Material
Thank you for providing the section 17 CAA Notice dated 5 February 2016, which covers the documents provided to you
with my 13 January 2016 email. Again for the avoidance of any doubt, this email gives formal notice under section 25
CAA that there is material within those documents which is legally privileged and/or confidential, and which is not to be
disclosed without our prior consent. Accordingly, should the CCRC wish to disclose any of that material, Post Office
Limited will need to review it to form a definitive position on privilege/ confidentiality and whether or not it consents to
disclosure.
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In terms of the other material referred to, but not provided with, my 13 January 2016 email, I attach a copy of the letter
lam sending to you by Special Delivery enclosing hard copies of the outstanding documents. That letter also provides
formal notice under section 25 CAA that there is material within those documents which is legally privileged and/or
confidential, and which is not to be disclosed without our prior consent.
7. Zubeir Patel
John Breeden, Post Office National Contract Manager, manages Post Office Limited’s relationship with Mr Zubeir Patel,
and has asked him whether he would be willing to assist the CCRC’s review of Mrs McDonald’s case. Mr Patel informed
Mr Breeden that he is happy to help you if he can, but because he does not recall personally operating Mrs McDonald's
branch, his recollection of events will be limited. We have all the same sent him your letter and asked him to contact
you.
In the meantime, we have located the attached record for the Broughton branch held on Post Office Limited’s
“Electronic Filing Cabinet" (an IT system which records certain activities at particular branches). You'll see that towards
the end of the EFC extract it records the branch closing because Mrs McDonald would no longer allow her premises to
be used as a Post Office.
I hope this helps — if you need any of the documents referred to in the EFC extract, please let me know. Due to the way
these documents are stored, they will need to be sent to you individually rather than via the Millnet platform.
Other matters:
(i) We would be happy to arrange for a demonstration of the Horizon system, which will need to take place at
the Model Office we have at our offices at Finsbury Dials, London. If you could please send me a range of
possible dates, I will start making the necessary arrangements. If it was likely to be beneficial, we could also
meet face-to-face at the same time for an update on investigation progress, document production and
management etc.
(ii) We are happy to provide the documents you list in respect of Ms Rashid’s case. Please find attached (a) the
ET1 claim form; (b) the ET3 Defence; (c) a protected disclosures document containing references to
complaints about Horizon (see in particular para. 1.17a to 1.17c); (d) a draft witness statement produced by
Post Office; and (e) the Settlement Agreement.
Ms Rashid's complaints about Horizon were set out in the “Protected Disclosures” document (a document used in the
Employment Tribunal process), but were not advanced in the written evidence filed in support of her
claim. Nevertheless, in anticipation of her raising those complaints during trial, Post Office Limited produced the
attached (draft) witness statement. Please note that because the case settled before trial, the statement was not
finalised with a signed statement of truth. The statement nonetheless reflects Post Office’s position had the case
proceeded to trial and Horizon been raised as an issue.
Please note that the Settlement Agreement has been redacted to obscure the reference to the settlement amount and
its PAYE treatment, which is highly sensitive but not I would have thought relevant to the CCRC’s enquiries. Please let me
know if this is not the case.
Could you please send to us a section 17 Notices to cover the Rashid material provided with this email, which is
disclosed to the CCRC in reliance upon section 25 CAA such that the CCRC is not to disclose it without Post Office
Limited’s prior written consent, given that the draft witness statement is a legally privileged draft, and the Settlement
Agreement is confidential.
(iii) We are in the process of collating and uploading all hardcopy documents and any remaining electronic
documents for the three new cases (Rudkin, Trousdale and Hedges). As you can see above, some electronic
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data has already been uploaded (the contents of the Security team folders) but we will confirm when all
remaining material for these cases has been uploaded onto the data room.
(iv) Finally, we note that it has been suggested to you that you speak to Second Sight Support Services Limited
as part of your investigations. I will come back to you as soon as possible with Post Office Limited’s position
on this.
I trust this is clear, but please let me know if you have any questions or wish to discuss anything in more detail.
Kind regards, Rodric
* Rodric Williams
ST Solicitor, Corporate Services
Post Office Ltd
20 Finsbu: treet, Londen EC2Y 9AQ
From: PearceA [mailto.
Sent: 06 February 2016 09:14
To: Rodric Williams
Subject: S17 to POL - additional material Feb 2016
Rodric,
Thank you for your recent email. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding. In the
interests of clarity I've adopted the numbering from your email.
1. & 3. Tracker document & civil litigation files
Thank you for the tracker document. It will help us to see at a glance what material you’ve been
able to locate and what's not available. If we notice any discrepancies between the tracker and
the material in the data room, I'll let you know. I note that you'll provide an updated tracker once
the civil litigation material has been uploaded.
2. Post Office Security electronic documents
Thank you for running the suggested search terms. From our records it appears that the theft
cases are Banks, McDonald, Ishaq, Misra, Adedayo and Hedges. I’m sorry if this wasn’t clear in
the meeting. That said, on reflection I think it would be helpful to run a search against all of the
applicants, not just the theft cases, and add the responsive documents to sub-folders as you
suggest. In order to make sure that we don’t miss anything relevant, I think we have to opt for
surname & the 3 years preceding conviction. If this will involve an unreasonable amount of work,
please let me know and we can reconsider. (I’m grateful for your offer of Millnet’s assistance
when it comes to searching the folders and for your advice about making a note of search
terms. As you know, we're still more familiar with paper files!)
4. Prosecution policies
As requested, I attach a section 17 notice to cover the provision of this material.
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5. & 6. Signposts to material which explains how Post Office assures itself and third
parties of the integrity of the Horizon system
The attached section 17 notice also covers the production of the ‘integrity’ material attached to
your email. Regarding the other material that you have identified, the attached notice asks that
you preserve the technical reports and produce the Deloitte reports. Your comments regarding
s.25 are noted.
7. Zubeir Patel
Are you able to provide an update on Mr Patel? I have attached a copy of the letter which we sent
to his last known address. If you were able to pass this on to Mr Patel, I should be grateful.
Other matters:
i. When we met in November, we spoke about the possibility of arranging a demonstration of
the Horizon system to help us visualise some of the processes that we are reading
about. We have reached a stage where it would be very helpful if we could arrange such a
demonstration. (I think you mentioned when we met that there is someone working with the
mediation team who is familiar with the training arrangements but that he is only available
until the end of February?) We would be happy to attend your offices whenever it’s
convenient.
ii. Our attention has been drawn to the case of Fozia Rashid. It has been suggested that she
is a former Post Office employee who, but for a settlement, was due to give evidence to an
employment tribunal which would have included evidence concerning errors caused by
Horizon. The Commission would like to satisfy itself as to whether the case raises anything
of relevance to our reviews. Unless there is a more efficient option, I think the Commission
will need to see a copy of Ms Rashid’s ET1 claim form and any supporting statements she
might have made, POL’s response (ET3) and any settlement agreement or settlement
correspondence. It might be helpful for us to discuss this before I send a formal s17
notice. Perhaps you could call me when you've had chance to identify the case file?
As ever, I’m very grateful for your cooperation and assistance.
Kind regards,
Amanda
Amanda Pearce
The Criminal Cases Review Commission
5 St Philip's Place
Birmingham
B3 2PW
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