Post Office scandal: Sheffield engineer who installed Horizon IT system describes 'anger' and 'sadness'

A Sheffield engineer who installed the Horizon IT system at post offices around the UK has spoken of his 'anger' and 'sadness' at the scandal.

Graham Askham was part of a team of electrical engineers who travelled the length and breadth of the country installing the new system, which is at the heart of possibly the biggest miscarriage of justice in national history.

He explained how he and his colleagues were unaware at the time of any faults with the system and never heard any complaints from the sub-postmasters they met during the course of their work.

It was only when news of the scandal broke that he became aware of the issues faced by many sub-postmasters, hundreds of whom were prosecuted after being falsely accused of running up huge shortfalls due to errors with Fujitsu's Horizon IT system.

Speaking to The Star, Mr Askham said: "We installed the systems in good faith and our overall feeling on learning what happened is one of anger and sadness. Anger at the tactics used by those high up in the Post Office and Fujitsu, and sadness at the situation in which so many sub-postmasters found themselves."

He explained how he and his colleagues would install the system and carry out basic checks, to ensure the keyboard and screen were working, for example, before Fujitsu sent someone to sort out the 'finer details' with the software.

Mr Askham said he and a colleague were worried that the sub-postmasters caught up in the scandal might apportion some of the blame to them.

"It's a bit like when you take a car in for a service and everything's OK but two weeks later it develops a fault," he said.

"There might have been occasions where we did some work on the systems and a couple of weeks later losses started getting flagged up, so they might think we were responsible."

Mr Askham, who is the secretary of the Normandy Veterans Association in Sheffield, said he installed the Horizon IT system between around 2002 and 2009, when he retired.

He explained that he was part of a team of around 30 engineers, belonging to the Royal Mail Engineering and Construction (ROMEC) division, who were responsible for installing the system when post offices moved or were being refurbished. The job involved extensive travel, taking him from Plymouth to Orkney.

"The surprising thing was the whole time I was doing the job I never heard any critical comments from the sub-postmasters about the kit. A colleague of mine also said he never heard anyone complain," said Mr Askham.

"When I heard what had happened I found it especially sad because I found the Royal Mail Group which the Post Office was part of at the time to be an excellent employer and I really enjoyed my time working for them.

"I found the majority of sub-postmasters I met doing my job to be very nice and reasonable people, who were often pillars of the community in which they worked. I was so sad to hear about how they've been treated."