Gareth Jenkins: The Horizon architect in the spotlight – BBC News

The former Fujitsu engineer who helped develop the flawed Horizon software at the centre of the Post Office scandal will step into the spotlight this week.

You may not have heard of Gareth Jenkins before, but he has become a key figure during the lengthy Post Office Inquiry.

He is being questioned as part of the investigation into his involvement in the scandal in which more than 900 post office managers were wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after Horizon claimed money had disappeared from branch accounts.

Mr Jenkins will testify for four days – the longest line of questions ever faced by a witness. Here’s why his evidence is so important.

His performance is eagerly awaited after being postponed twice.

A top lawyer working for the Post Office once described Gareth Jenkins as an “unreliable god”, the investigation revealed.

“His name came up repeatedly during these hearings, often several times a day,” says David Enright, a lawyer at Howe & Co, which represents many of the victims.

He expects Mr Jenkins to be “subjected to the toughest questioning” as part of the investigation.

Beginning in 2005, Mr. Jenkins played a critical role in helping the Postal Service defend its flawed computer software system in criminal and civil proceedings.

“He was the Fujitsu expert you turned to for all reliability questions,” says David Enright.

In 2010, Mr Jenkins gave evidence in the trial of Seema Misra at Guildford Crown Court.

She told the BBC: “I was naive at the time. I thought it was good that he worked for Fujitsu because he knew the system inside and out.”

“If something had gone wrong at Horizon, he would have noticed.”

What Ms Misra did not know was that shortly before the trial, Mr Jenkins had pointed out a fault affecting dozens of branch accounts and had suggested remote access to the computer terminals as one way to fix the problem.

Mr Jenkins did not disclose this in court. Ms Misra was found guilty of theft and falsifying accounts and was sent to prison while pregnant.

If the problems had been uncovered at that time, all criminal prosecutions could have been prevented.

Two years later, lawyers for Deputy Postmaster General Kim Wylie asked about the remote access issue. Mr. Jenkins asked for advice on what to say and warned a Postal Service lawyer that mentioning the possibility could lead to more scrutiny.

His closing testimony confirmed that this could happen, and in his closing statement he further stated that such changes to branch accounts were rare and required the approval of the Post Office.

Mr. Jenkins has appeared as an expert witness in numerous court cases against post office managers.

The law states that experts must be independent and unbiased, but the investigation found evidence that lawyers had never properly advised Mr Jenkins of his duties.

Documents obtained by the BBC earlier this year show that a prosecutor at The Post suggested that Mr Jenkins reword some of his statements in court against Seema Misra to support his claims about Horizon’s robustness.

IT expert Jason Coyne, who once served as an expert witness in a Postal Service case, is convinced that Mr. Jenkins is someone the Postal Service can “manage.”

“Sometimes we call people ‘mercenaries.’ There’s a risk that the Post tried to do just that with him,” Coyne says.

According to the BBC’s knowledge, Mr Jenkins was involved in at least 15 Post Office investigations.

In 2012, the independent forensic experts at Second Sight were commissioned to investigate the Horizon system.

At the time, they praised Jenkins’ “outstanding” expertise – without knowing that his evidence would be used in court.

But soon after its interim report, which revealed several errors, the Post received legal advice warning that Mr Jenkins’ previous failings had “fatally undermined” his credibility as an expert witness and that they should no longer call on him.

But Mr Jenkins remained a key figure behind the scenes.

He provided technical support and information to witnesses who testified in the 2019 Bates v. Post Office trial, even though they were not called to testify.

During the trial, the post office managers’ lawyers referred to him as a “shadow expert” – someone who advises but does not testify in court.

The Post was criticized for failing to acknowledge that his absence may have been related to its concerns about his testimony in previous prosecutions.

The judge, Justice Fraser, recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions open an investigation into perjury against Mr Jenkins.

As part of its contract with the Post Office, Fujitsu provided support in legal cases related to the Horizon system.

However, since this did not always cover Mr Jenkins’ work, the Post Office had to pay a surcharge.

The investigation found that costs sometimes played a role in whether the Postal Service had adequately addressed concerns about shortages at post office branches.

When Deputy Postmaster Grant Allen discovered a £3,000 deficit at his Cheshire branch, a lawyer acting for the Post Office asked Mr Jenkins for a quote for a two-day data analysis.

Emails from December 2012 released by the investigation show that Jenkins replied: “Up to 7 years of data is available free of charge. Two days of my time costs approximately £2,000-£2,500.”

The decision to analyze the data was ultimately rejected.

The BBC provided the contents of this story to Mr Jenkins. A lawyer representing him said it would be “inappropriate” for him to comment before he gives evidence at the inquiry.

The Post said it offered a “heartfelt apology” to the victims and remained focused on supporting the ongoing investigation.

Fujitsu declined to answer the BBC’s specific questions but said it was “viewing this matter with the utmost seriousness.”