When Skinner was cleared of any wrongdoing, the Court of Appeal saıd there was an extraordinary failure to investigate the 116 calls which were made in a relatively short space of time.Īsked if he looked into them, Bradshaw says he didn't because "the inquiry was Ms Matthews'," and adds he was only there on the day of the interview. Bradshaw says he was only there during the interview but everything was done by Matthews. Janet Skinner, who was interviewed previously by Bradshaw and another former Post Office investigator, Diane Matthews, made 116 calls to the National Business Support Centre (NBSC) about Horizon. He says Threlfall is watching today but is "too traumatised to give evidence to this inquiry". Jacobs says Threlfall was "shaken by the experience" and now has "crippling anxiety and depression which arises, in large part, from the way you treated her". Sir Wyn Williams says this can be submitted formally and he can consider the evidence and also run it past Threlfall. Jacobs refutes this and says "Rita would want me to say you're not telling the truth."īradshaw says he has a photohraph of the lift. He also says: "It wasn't a small tiny parcel lift, it was a designated wheelchair lift." In response to Threlfall's account, Bradshaw says the chances of being given a chair in a Royal Mail delivery office are "slim". The interview was upstairs, without proper access for a wheelchair, Jacobs continues, and Threlfall was placed in a "tiny parcel lift". It'll carry on at the same time tomorrow - 10am.Ĭhristopher Jacobs, a lawyer acting on behalf of Rita Threlfall, says Threlfall uses a wheelchair and, when she met Bradshaw to be interviewed in 2010, she asked for a chair and never received one, so she had to sit on stairs. Thanks for following my coverage of the inquiry today, it's been a pleasure. One thing's for sure, though - interest in this scandal isn't going away anytime soon. Some of the sub-postmasters and postmistresses talk to their legal teams, journalists - like me - tap furiously at their keyboards, and before long the room empties entirely. When Chair Sir Wyn Williams calls today's proceedings to an end, there's a buzz of excitement in the room. But Bradshaw denied this ever happened, saying "I wouldn't say anything like that". Robinson nodded along as her lawyer spoke, at times smiling and looking at her partner, Michael, sat beside her. Moloney suggests there was a time, after Stephen Bradshaw formally interviewed Robinson many years ago, that he and others were aware she hadn't taken the money. Rounding off today's hearing was Tim Moloney KC - he represents, among others, Della Robinson who sits beside him today.Ī former sub-postmistress at Dukinfield Post Office in Cheshire, Robinson was convicted in 2013 of false accounting. Bradshaw insisted he'd "never threatened anyone with prosecution" and categorically denied telling postmasters or postmistresses "that they were the only one" Jacobs said 49 of the 156 sub-postmasters he represents said they were told by the Post Office that they were the only one being investigated and 61 were threatened with prosecution. Edward Henry KC, representing former sub-postmistress Janet Skinner, put it to Bradshaw that he and his team were "drenched in information that Horizon wasn't working", to which Bradshaw accepted that the information "came through"Ĭhristopher Jacobs, a lawyer representing former sub-postmistress Shazia Saddiq, told Bradshaw he had "hounded" her and others but Bradshaw denied this
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