One of the solicitors who helped to expose the Post Office scandal has said lawyers should be a ‘potential target’ for investigations into who caused it.
James Hartley, a dispute resolution partner at national firm Freeths, who was featured in last week’s Mr Bates v The Post Office, said the role of lawyers did not attract the same attention as other figures at the Post Office and its IT provider Horizon.
But speaking over the weekend to Times Radio, Hartley said that while lawyers for the Post Office involved in prosecutions over the years might not face criminal prosecutions, they could be subject to regulatory action. He suggested future investigations should assess the ‘culpability and accountability’ of lawyers under professional conduct rules.
‘Why did it go wrong and who knew what?’ he asked. ‘The inquiry work is being watched really closely by the Metropolitan Police. They will do their own investigations and ultimately I would say there’s probably five potential targets here.
‘One is the entity Post Office Ltd, one is senior decision-makers within Post Office – obviously [former chief executive] Paula Vennells but there are others as well.
‘Thirdly, Fujitsu the company potentially or that could be more difficult, I think. Fourth, employees within Fujitsu who’ve given evidence in court cases which has found [which] was found to be potentially misleading. And lastly there is the role of lawyers.’
It emerged over the weekend that the Metropolitan Police is investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences committed during the 20-year scandal. Meanwhile, the justice secretary is understood to be meeting Kevin Hollinrake, minister with responsibility for the Post Office, today to discuss overturning all the wrongful convictions.
Read more
..and in case you missed it there’s the terrifying series with the wonderful Toby Jones
