MAN WHO HELPED BUILD POST OFFICE HORIZON FINALLY FACING INQUIRY – After concerns he might incriminate himself

The former chief IT architect for Fujitsu, the company that designed Horizon, provided evidence and reports backing up the reliability of the system in a number of Post Office prosecutions.

He’s been investigated by police amid concerns his court evidence wasn’t consistent with information he may have had about problems with the system.

Mr Jenkins has asked the public inquiry for immunity against incriminating himself, but it has refused to pass on his request to the attorney general.

He was due to appear twice in 2023, but on each occasion, it was postponed due to disclosure failings by the Post Office.

In the last instance, in November, it had to be postponed again after a last-minute dump of 3,045 new documents.

The inquiry chairman said it was a “source of frustration” but the documents needed to be processed and disclosed to Mr Jenkins before he gave evidence.

The Post Office IT system scandal is one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history

Post office Chief Executive Ms Vennells told a parliamentary committee in 2015 that there had been no evidence of any miscarriage of justice. But in 2017 a group of staff brought its case to the High Court.