About 100 sub-postmaster convictions separate to Post Office cases may be ‘tainted’
Prosecutions of sub postmasters by the Department for Work and Pensions could be “tainted” as Sky News reveals officials worked with now discredited Post Office investigators to secure convictions.
Around 100 prosecutions of Post Office staff were led by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between 2001 and 2006.
It is understood that these usually involved the cashing in of stolen order books.
The Post Office itself wrongly prosecuted hundreds of sub-postmasters between 1999 and 2015 – based on evidence from the faulty Horizon accounting system.
The role of government
A Sky News investigation, however, has discovered that information was shared between Post Office investigation teams and the DWP.
Chair of the Justice Select Committee, Sir Robert Neill KC, said as a result DWP convictions “need to be looked at”.
“I hadn’t been aware of that, for example, there may have been material in the DWP case as a result of joint investigations – which suggests a disclosure failure,” he added.
“I think that’s the area they need to look at if we are saying their approach was tainted from the beginning – in the way the investigators adopted things – then joint operations I suspect would be just as tainted arguably as something where it has been the Post Office on its own.”
What was known?
A 2003 DWP report into fraud describes “joint working” and the “sharing of information” with the Post Office.
It also outlines a “Fraud Prevention Board” established by the DWP and Royal Mail Group plc which includes “the exchange of information that directly assists fraud prevention and investigations”.
In addition, separately, a 2003 letter seen by Sky News also indicates a connection between DWP and Post Office investigations.
The letter, from the then post affairs minister Stephen Timms, references the case of Roger Allen, a sub-postmaster from Norwich.
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It states: “Subsequent investigations by the police, the Post Office Investigation Department and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) led to a prosecution by DWP…”
Roger Allen was convicted in 2004 of stealing pension payments and was sentenced to six months in prison. He died in March of this year.
Mr Allen had pleaded guilty to spare his wife – after his lawyer told him in a letter that there had been “an indication from the Crown that they may discontinue the proceedings against Mrs Allen were you minded to plead guilty”.
Despite the Criminal Cases Review Commission deciding Mr Allen had grounds to appeal against his conviction – it was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2021.
DWP prosecutions are not covered in upcoming government legislation that will overturn Post Office convictions.
Roger Allen. Pic: Keren Simpson
Fighting to clear names
Keren Simpson, Roger’s daughter, has vowed to fight to clear his name posthumously.
She describes her father as a “proud” and “honest” man who “couldn’t face or deal” with the fact his conviction would not be overturned.
She says “in the end he obviously gave up” and there is “very little surviving evidence” because of the passage of time.
“He’s the innocent one,” Keren states. “I don’t see why he’s got to try and prove it. They have got to try and prove it, and show what evidence they actually had on my dad.
“Because the Department of Work and Pensions have put a statement out saying there was surveillance and witness testimonies and physical evidence to show it.
“Show me it.”
Roger Allen. Pic: Keren Simpson
Investigation failures?
Sky News has also seen documents that suggest failures by DWP investigators in a different case in the 2000s.
It involved a sub-postmaster who decided to plead not guilty and was acquitted of stealing by a jury.
In one extract it says a “senior investigating officer” was “willing to admit in open court that (they) had been neglectful in (their) duty in securing evidence”.
Another document appears to show a failure to review transaction logs used as evidence against the sub-postmaster.
Some logs appear to show that the accused did not cash the “dockets”, used to collect pension payments.
Other transaction logs indicate the sub-postmaster was not present at a particular branch when the theft was alleged to have occurred.
Christopher Head
Chris Head, former sub-postmaster and a campaigner for others, has also seen the documents and says they point to a “deeply flawed” DWP investigation.
“…they failed to obtain all transaction logs for the entirety of this case, but the ones that they have, they have they clearly haven’t looked at.”
He believes there are “more cases out there” which could be “part of a miscarriage of justice”.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “We do not recognise these claims.
“DWP investigates offences against the welfare system to protect taxpayers’ money, and between 2001 and 2006 a small number of Post Office staff were convicted for welfare-related fraud.
“These cases involved complex investigations and were backed by evidence including filmed surveillance, stolen benefit books and witness statements – they did not rely on Horizon evidence, and this has been accepted by the Court of Appeal.”
The Post Office says it “continues to help other prosecuting authorities to ensure that they have every assistance in taking their work forward”.
“This includes sharing all the information we have in relation to prosecutions which have been brought by other prosecutors.”
Meanwhile, Lord Sikka has tabled an amendment in the House of Lords to the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill to include all DWP convictions.
A man has been charged with four counts of attempted murder after a car collided with a group of people in London’s West End on Christmas Day.
Anthony Gilheaney, 30, will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday and has also been charged with causing serious injury by driving whilst disqualified, driving a motor vehicle dangerously and possession of a bladed article in a public place, the Metropolitan Police said.
Forensic investigators collect evidence at the scene on Christmas Day. Pic: PA
Items of clothing and blood are seen on the pavement. Pic: PA
Four people were taken to hospital after the incident, with one in a life-threatening condition.
Metropolitan Police officers were called to reports of a crash and a car driving on the wrong side of the road at 12.45am.
The incident occurred outside the Sondheim Theatre, which is the London home of the musical Les Miserables.
Shaftesbury Avenue is at the heart of London‘s West End and the city’s theatre district.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy said the suspect was arrested within minutes of the incident “in the early hours of Christmas Day”.
“Since then, investigators have worked tirelessly to build the case and have today charged Anthony Gilheaney with four counts of attempted murder.
“Our thoughts now are with the victims, one of which remains in critical condition in hospital.”
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UK
Special educational needs children ‘segregated and left to struggle in wrong schools to save money’
Children with special educational needs are being “segregated” and left to struggle in the wrong schools because councils are trying to “save on costs”, parents have told Sky News.
Maire Leigh Wilson, whose four-year-old son has Down’s syndrome, says she “shudders to think” where he would be now had she not been in a “constant battle” with her council.
“I think he would probably just be at the back of a classroom, running around with no support and no ability to sign or communicate,” she said.
Mrs Leigh Wilson wanted her son Aidan to go to a mainstream school with additional specialist support, but her council, who decide what is known as a child’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), wanted him to attend a special school.
The number of EHCPs being appealed by parents has risen “massively”, according to education barrister Alice De Coverley.
She said councils are struggling to meet the volume of demand with “stretched budgets”, and parents are also more aware of their ability to appeal.
Mrs De Coverley said more than 90% of tribunals are won by parents, in part because councils do not have the resources to fight their cases.
She said, in her experience, parents of children with special educational needs will put “anything on the line, their homes, their jobs”.
On whether she thinks the system is rigged against parents, Mrs De Coverley said: “I’m not sure it’s meant to be. But I think that parents are certainly finding it very tough.”
She added the number of “unlawful decisions” being made by local authorities means parents who can afford it are being “utterly burnt out” by legal challenges.
Read more:
Three in four parents of SEND children forced to give up work or cut hours
Maire Leigh Wilson with her son, Aiden, four
Mrs Leigh Wilson’s case was resolved before making it to court.
Her council, Hounslow in southwest London, said they complete more than four in five new EHCPs within the statutory 20-week timescale, twice the national average.
Hounslow Council said they “put families at the heart of decision-making” and young people in the area with special educational needs and disabilities achieve, on average, above their peers nationally.
They admitted there are areas of their offer “that need to be further improved” and they are “working closely with families as a partnership”.
“We have a clear and credible plan to achieve this, and we can see over the last 18 months where we have focused our improvement work, the real benefits of an improved experience for children, young people, and their families,” a Hounslow Council spokesman said.
He added the council had seen the number of EHCPs double in the last decade and they “share parents’ frustrations amid rising levels of national demand, and what’s widely acknowledged as a broken SEND system”.
Emma Dunville wanted her son, Albie, to go to a special school but the council took too long to assess him
Emma Dunville, a friend of Mrs Leigh Wilson whose son also has Down’s syndrome, describes her experience trying to get the right education provision for her child as “exhausting mentally and physically”.
She said: “For the rest of his life we’ll be battling, battling, battling, everything is stacked up against you.”
Unlike Mrs Leigh Wilson, Mrs Dunville wanted her son Albie to go to a special school, but she had to wait more than a year for an assessment with an education psychologist to contribute to the council’s decision, which meant she missed the deadline for an EHCP.
“The people making these decisions just don’t see that all children with Down’s syndrome are totally different and can’t be seen as the same.”
The guidelines are that if there are not enough local authority-employed education psychologists they should seek a private assessment, but her local authority did not do that.
Mrs Dunville said her son has been “segregated” in a mainstream school, where they are “trying their best” but “it’s just not the right setting”.
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