The Post Office EDITED OUT witness statements from fujitsu that included references to bugs and errors. Absolute bastards.

This evidence seems to be digging a very deep legal hole beneath the Post Office. This guy's candour and willingness to answer questions with a simple 'yes' and 'I agree' is extremely refreshing.

They should pay the entire compensation bill and the post office top dogs should have their bonuses taken back and all should be facing criminal charges. If any average citizen caused this much harm and suffering said citizen would be locked up for a very long time.

Executives who knew about this should be sent to prison for destroying the lives of others.

Clearly, Fujitsu informed the Post Office about the bugs, but the Post Office has decided to ignore this information.

This man couldn't have been more honest, if only the Post Office lot and our MPs gave honest answers!

I watched Mr Patterson's evidence in full - he wasn't "cornered" as your tagline suggests - he came across to me as very open and honest - he didn't seek to cover up or defend Fujitsu's involvement at all - he was very candid and forthcoming

Having worked in a Bank's IT department, I know that Bugs, errors and defects are common in all major IT systems. The difference in this case is the way the Post office chose to ignore all and any possibilities of the impact of the Bugs and errors on the prosecutions of Postmasters.

He seemed slightly taken aback when asked about compensation for relatives of those falsely convicted. One postmaster was disowned by his father and ended up being sectioned three times. Others accused family members of stealing when they couldn't balance the books. What about the families whose wrongly-convicted relative killed themselves? It affected entire families, most of whom will never be the same again. To think such lives were expendable in order to protect a brand (now trashed) is beyond any normal human being's belief. Jail sentences for those in the know MUST follow. Financial punishment won't cut it.

Finally a witness willing to give straight answers and not try to give corporate fluff in their answers

So...Fuji informed the PO as and when a bug was found starting before 2000. Evidence statements provided by Fuji employees which had any reference to bugs were edited by the PO (or their legal team) to remove any reference to system faults. Criminal.

I've been watching this inquiry from day 1, and the professionalism and line of questioning by the KC are superb. Each person is asked very gentle question and their responses dissected allowing them to dig some very deep holes.

All postmasters and postmistresses affected should (1)be refunded for financial losses plus interest, (2) receive appropriate compensation for distress and suffering caused and (3) all politicians, senior post office management and post office investigaters should face criminal charges and stand trial for corrupt practices. They were trying to protect the Post Office name and instead have damaged it forever.

I once worked a at a large University in the Marketing Dept. Our call centre had to use a bespoke CM system, that kept crashing. The call centre staff and myself were sent off for training, as we were told by the supplier that we were causing the problems. I asked the "instructor" to show us how the system should work, on the liver server ( not on a local network in their training room ). As they tried to save some incoming call info, their system crashed, and could not be restarted. I then asked the trainer to bring their sales manager into the room, and advised him that they seemed to be in breach of their supplier agreement and asked him why we should be expected to keep paying their monthly license fee, and that we also expected a credit for the last 18 months of their license fee. He was stunned.

Not once did he say " i dont recall , i can't remember " Came across as open and provided information and hopefully a commitnent to exonerate and compensate all the Post masters.

Paul Patterson, good on you for being so succinct and honest

The documents provided in this inquiry show that Fujitsu and the Post Office knew about the bugs and issues and problems they were causing, yet went ahead with prosecutions.

I feel that, unlike many of his colleagues interviewed this week, Paul Patterson came over very well and seemed to answer the questions honestly and openly.

Think it’s worth mentioning, this in my eyes, appears to be the only guy giving straight answers. He wasn’t at the company I don’t believe for much of this, yet appears to be the only taking responsibility.

The Fujitsu boss is being very open and honest. Not like some on the PO side

This guy comes across as being open regarding what he knew, which is refreshing in this case. However, what needs to be at the forefront of this inquiry is that four people committed suicide due to the horrendous treatment they underwent. Not only do the other surviving postmasters need to be properly compensated By Fujitsu and the P.O. but those who knew about faults and conspired to continue regardless need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. They have blood on their hands and need to be held to account.

Fujitsu seem willing and ready to answer questions and accept facts. It's so refreshing. I am used to Government ministers and in Post Office leaders not doing so. Refreshing.

Paul Patterson seems to be the only one so far interviewed in this inquiry that has answered honestly. The Post Office crooks seem to all have developed a bug and glitch in their memory. Ironic

We've known this for a long time. Harriet Harmon said it back in 99. Private eye have reported that it was known before it was put into use for years.

This was interesting and refreshing. Someone at last being straight. I think Fujitsu failed to deliver on their service/sales promise and struggled to get on top of the complexity of the challenge they undertook. But in fairness, IT capability in the late 90's and into the "2000's" was in its infancy really. So I have some sympathy towards Fujitsu. Fujitsu are guilty of not doing a good job, but they broke no laws. Fundamentally this should not be referred to as the 'Horizon Scandal', it should be referred to as the "Post Office Management scandal". The Post Office - and the Post Office alone - repeatedly made the decisions to prosecute and treat the postmasters as they did. The more Post Office management and executives I see the worse this organisation becomes. Frankly it's about the inept and negligent management by the Post Office leadership team of the business. The Post Office is guilty in the legal sense, and the directors should be held to account and face prosecution as they have failed in their legally binding duties as directors.

So why then, was the chief software architect allowed to claim it had none? Their lawyers should have told him that was perjury.

incompetence, wrongdoing, fraud, and perjury. fines and jail surely. and a complete moral vacuum amongst the lot

Nothing "cornered" about him. Open, honest, doesn't evade and is precisely what's needed, honesty and transparency. Thank you Mr Patterson.

Jail the appropriate people this time

Unbelievable coverup from the post office. I feel that they haven't touched the surface with this cover up. I'm sure that they will be plenty more to harvest in this cover up.

Bugs, not glitches. Glitches are technical errors caused by faulty or damaged hardware. Bugs are errors in the code that can (and should) be corrected.

OMG full exposure, they knew and so did Post Office, PAY THE PEOPLE

Malice and utter contempt for their employees. Shameful! Not only should heads roll, but there should also be prosecutions of senior management. As for compensation, anyone affected by this should never worry about money for the rest of their lives. Not to be payed for by the tax payer. Jujitsu needs to be liable and Post Office accountable.

Bit of a clickbait title- he wasn’t “cornered “, he simply answered the questions put to him without obfuscation.

"well known to all parties" "Where sub-postmasters aware of those bugs?"

Utterly shameful. How many lives destroyed? And so many in power complicit!

Simple answers and no amnesia. What a refreshing contrast with BS spouted by others.

Mr Beer is a top class lawyer/solicitor, he and his team obviously done their Mise en Place.

He is the ONLY person in this whole disaster who seems to show any integrity.

My questions would be. Did Fujitsu carry out FAT (factory acceptance test), did they carry out any soak tests, did they carry out a SAT (site acceptance test) did they run this software in shadow or ghost mode such that the existing system could operate as normal with the new software in shadow mode alongside but having no effect on the existing. How long was the pilot period. Was that pilot period carried out at a select set of premises, or across the piece. Did they in fact at the FAT stage, try their hardest to break the system, hack the system or otherwise knacker it up completely? I wouldn't trust Fujitsu to empty my bins!

This CEO has just removed the post office's safety net and cut their harness line, then pushed them out on the broken trapeze. He has made it clear that the post office didn't care about justice or integrity just conviction rates because that meant bonuses all round. From the top down this is an operation that perverted the course of justice for hundreds of instances, Vennells and her minions should be prosecuted for every single case. Then sentenced for each one separately the sentences to run consecutively, in order that they know on year x day y in prison they are there because they destroyed the life, character and reputation of z. It will probably need a prison to be built just for them, the wings can be named after those who took their own lives because of it except for one. The Grenfell wing is for those responsible for killing 71 people, built in the hope that it will house them during their sentences.

Disagree. This guy has admitted, without any pressure, just how appalling his company's behaviour was over the decades.

He doesn’t stumble over his answers, he looks directly back, he doesn’t fidget, he doesn’t take long pauses or look away for prolonged periods. You can tell straight away when someone is lying and when someone is telling the truth. And this is the first clip I’ve seen of anyone displaying what you would expect of someone telling the truth.

At least the bloke in the dock held his hands up. Very rare but bang to rights.

I first knew about this scandal around 2010, when I read an article about it then. It was obviously an IT issue - I worked as a software engineer - and I simply don't get that any court would believe otherwise. The whole system is screwed, and we need a (peaceful) revolution.

This is a story of a complex I.T. system VERSUS hundreds of middle-aged, non-technical individuals who were poorly trained to understand or operate it. Then add in the Post Office Executives (Time Lag Factor) who acted as judge, jury and executioner because the system was "unsafe" from the outset. The technical errors were compounded by Post Office executives delays and half-truths and lives were ruined. The Post Office "a communication company", failed to communicate with Fujitsu and its Postmasters, in other words CRAP LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT all at public expense. Shame on all parties . . . .

This guy seems honest, and knows Fujitsu screwed up big time.

I have worked with IT systems for more than 4 decades and a Journal file that records every transaction, Time minute second, User I'd, Detail Amount and Any Change amendment deletion to any transaction are provided in all the IT Banking, Accounting, Payroll systems are part of the system.

Many of those people who was employed by the Post office and Fujitsu was complicit in giving spurious evidence which sent many innocent sub -postmasters to be convicted because of the impact of their evidence, to such an extent that it caused false criminal convictions, imprisonments, loss of livelihood and homes, debt and bankruptcy and took a dramatic toll on victims and their families, leading to stress, illness, divorce and even worse than that, suicides. Why should these deplorable people that lied and hide the truth from the police enquires, not themselves be sent to prison for their act of perjury by preventing the course of justice from reaching the rightful decision, by returning verdicts of not guilty of all these cases brought to trial.

I worked for the NHS for 20 years, there were bugs and defects, errors in the computer systems dealing with patients records which were shared by hospitals across the country. So no computer system operates robustly. The post office needs to cough up compensation immediately and those who have lied and indeed committed grievous harm to the post masters must serve time in person.

He has no reason to lie . He didn't cover anything up. Respect....

I’ve been watching many of these sessions and SO FAR this guy is the most honest and straightforward IN MY personal view and he doesn’t display the incredible arrogance displayed by many others in the legal and security teams - Gary

It’s taken the Post Office years just to say “ sorry”

At last a person of integrity

Paul Patterson, the only Post Office / Fujitsu witness to come out of the Inquiry with his integrity in tact.

Privateisation does not work anyone seen the artical by novara media where they got hold of documents from avanti west rail where it clearly states the goverment provide then with further funding to run a less than satisfactory service or between 7-9 out of ten and never a 10 out of ten service. The country is litterally failing and the shocking way privatisation has failed is a sure sign that capatalisum in general is now very questionable

This is quite damning, because any corporate organization who would think they had a chance in this scenario would never be this forthcoming. No way

If there is no jail time for anyone, the whole system is broken.

None of the prosecution’s could have happened without their lawyers acting like criminals

Fujitsu boss's direct and unequivocal responses are far more impressive than the evidence given by the Post Office boss, who seemed to be either unaware, evasive or perhaps both.

Horizon should never have passes fujitsus release testing, nor the post office acceptance tests. It should never have been rolled out.

I'm seeing Steve Coogan playing this guy in the blockbuster remake.

The only truthful, engaging interaction I’ve seen in this enquiry!! The rest has been bulls it, legal team, lawyer speak, baseless empty answers, he is either a genius or genuine either way he not avoiding the truth 😮

People are commenting that £57 million was won in the earlier case, most of that money went to legal fees because the Court did not award Costs against the PO. The disgraceful thing I learnt today was the charge that Fujitsu made for its staff attending Court as witnesses for the PO in many cases. Just one case today Fujitsu charged £20.000 for one witness.. I hope someone asks how much Fujitsu made from these Court Cases, those charges would have been added to any costs that the convicted Sub Postmasters/Mistresses would have had to pay. No wonder so many of them were later declared bankrupt.

A national embarrassment. When executives take the salary but are too lazy to do the RIGHT thing! It looks like Fujitsu are the only ones with any honour here. How many P.O. executives have fallen on their swords?

This guy is a breath of fresh air in this case but I cant help but feel he is committing career suicide but being too honest. A complete legend in my view!

My man's questioning is breathtaking. Accurate, fair, relentless.

Impressive witness dealing honestly with an indefensible position. Refreshing and the absolutely correct way to proceed.

Mr Patterson is guilty of course, but he has been candid & honest unlike others who have sat in the same seat.

Agree that Patterson appears to be sincere. It takes a lot for me to say that in this whole sordid saga in which the cast appear to comprise thickos, arrogant nonentities, amnesiacs, thugs, and unprincipled deflectors. Truly shocking that evidence from some Fujitsu witnesses was either withheld or doctored in order to obtain illegal convictions. Perjury and perverting the course of justice were rife. Immediate action should be taken to bring all those guilty of this to justice as soon as possible.

I don’t understand the headline of this blog , this guy wasn’t cornered. He was truthful and honest in his answers. Never once said ! I’m sorry I don’t remember, I wasn’t told by my manager, or burst into tears..

Post office and Fujitsu uk are multi million pound companies, biggest scandal in the uk, why did they let this happen , it astonishing that the post office is not closed down , the staff involved should face criminal trial

The Horizon system was faulty at launch ,which they knew . Unbelievable .

Unlike Enron there is absoluely no chance of anyone being sent down.

Every system goes live with bugs and defects. This is part of the testing process and user sign-off. Every single system. Everywhere.

His testimony is such a contrast with the obfuscation and deflection we see from the Post Office. Whatever Fujitsu may turn out to be responsible for, at least they're honest and sincerely trying to grapple with it.

The whole scandal is a farce. Both Fujitsu and the post office are fully accountable for their actions. I think some people should be going to prison for this.

The Fujitsu support document shows remote access to vm as admin feature -more postmasters and postmistresses now got courage to tell their stories after just paying a forced fine

The guy wast not cornered he was not part of the company at the time, and clearly cares more about his own reputation ie integretee. As aposed to covering for the company he now works for. So fair play to him he seemed to be very honest and upfront.

Being a Japanese company they have been transparent not like the Posty Thugs, cant remember , duno and cant recall.

Surely when this is all unravelled, there will be people with names and faces who are guilty of perverting the course of justice, be they Post Office employees/management or their legal team. Let's hope they are punished to the full with Lifetime Prison Sentences. Honesty and integrity is missing and this is not what we expect from them.

Refreshing to have clear replies rather than I don't recall or it was before my time etc.

Deceit, dishonesty, and sheer malevolence from a government owned business. The last people I would trust to sort out this mess would be parliamentarians .

Bugs, errors and defects exist in all systems. These should have been classed as 'known errors' and have Problem Reports opened for resolution. Fujitsu lied and have proven themselves to be incompetent. The Post Office and Fujitsu conspired to defraud subpostmasters. Corporate entities can be fined and punished but there's no chance of any one individual seeing the inside of a prison cell. This chap came over as open and fair.

No prison time a fine of a few billion which can be replaced = carry on regardles system

Working in Japan in 1980 working for an Export House I was project manager to Computerise all Trading and Accounting systems and the company chose Fujitsu. Fujitsu software in a complex environment was Brilliant quite superb. Small bugs fixed very quickly after rollout and no Accounting records were incorrect. This Fujitsu Post office software just doesn't square with my experience with them 4 decades earlier. I am perplexed.

This seems to be, if the witness is reliable, damning evidence to show the post office senior staff destroyed peoples lives knowing their prosecutions were false. This is really sick.

Just a hunch that matey wont be with Fujitsu for much longer.....

Absolute respect to this man.

So I've read the uk ceo has quit, no jail no fines an full wages an full pension!!! Thats about right

For twenty years there's been a fault in the Horizon system which the post office new about ,but the PO big wigs still forged ahead prosecuting POsub post office counter staff ,causing damage and death to numerous counter staff disgraceful criminal behaviour of Post office directors and Fujitsu for not doing enough to stop all these Prosecutions which were floored to begin with.

As someone who has worked in IT for 40 years if the contractor informed the client of issues / bugs and the client (post office) did nothing or manipulated the reports the contractor has done all they could. They are now trying to salvage reputation and ongoing contracts by dropping the post office in it. Yes very bad software system. But post office management basically morally corrupt.

Paul Patterson comes over as very straight and doing his best to answer the questions. He also appears to have carefully read the evidence Fujitsu submitted before appearing in front of the enquiry. It must also be important to him and Fujitsu to demonstrate that the Post Office were aware of all the known bugs from early on, so that they cannot pretend that Fujitsu hid the information from them. Sharing information about bugs and agreeing the prioritisation of fixes is normal practice in an outsourcing contract.

Very open and honest bloke.

Twenty years they’ve known about the bugs. Innocent people were prosecuted. Evidence about the bugs, errors and defects were hidden. This is pure criminal behaviour. The people responsible for covering this up need to be prosecuted and given appropriate (possibly custodial) sentences.

Throw all of them in jail end of story.

Worked for POL between 2003 & 2009 at the Post Office Service Centre in Salford. Didn't know of this crap and scandal going on at the time but in hindsight not surprised in the slightest that POL could do this, although overall responsibility lies with the Government as they were and still are the owners of the company. At the end of the day Fuijitsu got the tender as they were the CHEAPEST!!!! Crap software from the very start

If no one goes to jail then you will know the system is corrupt

He had been the most honest out of them all...

Here is the thing, apart from all the other aspects of this affair the role of Lord Neuberger in the Recusal seems to have escaped attention. I have therefore pasted the following ‘The role of Lord Neuberger in the recusal fiasco (Justice Fraser) should be investigated’ on as many KZfaq articles as I could, about ten, but when I checked to see if there was any response I discovered they had all been taken down. This Kafkaesque episode staggers one at every turn, even when Big brother has been outed he seems to be still working away! I really want to know why Lord Neuberger interfered , if the recusal had succeeded the whole noble attempt at taking on the stinking system would have failed.