Ex-investigator forced to give evidence at Horizon inquiry as ‘time was limited’
Raymond Grant submitted a witness statement that was only a little over two pages long.
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Your support makes all the difference.A Post Office investigator involved in the probe of a subpostmaster who died before his wrongful conviction was overturned has had to be forced to give evidence at the Horizon IT inquiry as his “time was limited”.
Raymond Grant submitted a “minimum” witness statement that was only a little over two pages long – blaming his “10 to 11-hour” working days and moving house.
Mr Grant said he was looking after homeless residents in a Christian shelter during December where “there are a lot of activities going on”.
Counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC said he would see if the witness could improve on his statement, before adding: “Now that carol services and dog walking are out of the way”.
I fully understand my obligations to this important Post Office Horizon IT inquiry - however, my time was limited
Mr Grant investigated William Quarm, who was convicted in 2010 of stealing from his Post Office branch in North Uist, Scotland and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
He died two years later at the age of 69 and his conviction was successfully quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh last year.
Asked by counsel to the inquiry Jason Beer KC why his witness statement was so short on Wednesday, Mr Grant said: “My current role is I work in a homeless centre for a Christian organisation – it has 30 residents in it.
“I am the programme manager in that unit and my job is to ensure that these residents get the level of respect and dignity that they deserve.
“Part of the role is to ensure that at that time of the year, December in a Christian calendar, there are a lot of activities going on.
“We were, at that point, five members of staff short.
“I was working somewhere in the region of 10 to 11-hour days – I was going home, walking my dog and at the same time, the home where I was living, I was asked to vacate it by December 31.”
I fully understand my obligations to this important Post Office Horizon IT inquiry - however, my time was limited
He continued: “So I was in the process of trying to purchase a property, view a property, deal with conveyancing issues, dealing with mortgage arrangements – so there was a clear clash of priorities as far as I was concerned.
“I chose my current job as being the most important as it directly affected 20 members of staff and 29 homeless residents.
“I fully understand my obligations to this important Post Office Horizon IT inquiry – however, my time was limited, for all the things that I’ve said previously.
“I managed to negotiate an extra month on my rented property, and I have to be out of that by the 31st (of January).”
Mr Grant said he spoke with one of the senior lawyers from the inquiry who made it clear their priorities were “different” from his own.
He continued: “Reading, digesting, understanding an inordinate amount of documents – 450, at that time, subsequently another 350 on top of that.”
Mr Beer interjected: “When you say documents, you mean pages?”
Mr Grant responded: “Yes sorry, I beg your pardon.
“And then having to prepare a detailed statement of my memory from the time of employment, which was 16 years ago, to any involvement in any Post Office investigation.”
You're here under the threat of the exercise of compulsory powers - we had to serve a section 21 notice
Mr Grant said he was set a deadline of January 2 to provide answers to questions posed by the inquiry’s legal team and after saying it was “not physically possible”, he was told he would “potentially be breaking the law”.
“My pleadings were going on deaf ears,” he said.
“I explained about me moving home, and the caller (said) I should provide details of my conveyancing lawyers so that I could be checked up on.”
Mr Beer then said: “So, in short, it’s a clash of priorities.”
Mr Grant continued: “The next level of communication I had was that Sheriff officers appeared at my door and issued me with a section 21 notice, to say that I had to comply and be here today.”
Mr Beer responded: “That’s right, you’re here under the threat of the exercise of compulsory powers – we had to serve a section 21 notice.”
Well let's see if we can improve on that today, now that carol services and dog walking are out of the way
The former Post Office investigator said: “Yes, I agree with that.
“That kind of focussed me and in my time I was then able to – my first day off during that was January 1 following a 10-hour night shift during New Year’s Eve and New Year’s morning.
“That was when I drafted this minimum statement to comply with the section 21 order.
“I apologise to the court, but for all the reasons I’ve said, that’s the reason why it’s such a short statement.”
Mr Beer said: “Well let’s see if we can improve on that today, now that carol services and dog walking are out of the way.”
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