Prosecutor expected review after ‘sham’ trial of subpostmaster, inquiry told
Kevin Shiels told the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry such a review may have ‘changed how matters were dealt with’ in future cases.
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Your support makes all the difference.A prosecutor expected questions to be asked and a review to be carried out after a “sham” case against a subpostmaster ended in a not guilty verdict.
Kevin Shiels, a public prosecutor in Northern Ireland, said a review of the prosecution of Maureen McKelvey in 2004 may have “changed how matters were dealt with” in future cases.
The Post Office Horizon IT inquiry heard no review was carried out and Mr Shiels was not informed of the outcome of the trial.
Ms McKelvey reported £30,000 shortfalls in the Horizon system at her branch in Clanabogan, Omagh, and despite eventually being found not guilty, the stress of her five-year wait for the acquittal caused her thyroid to rupture – resulting in major surgery.
On Wednesday, Mr Shiels told the inquiry he would agree a report from Post Office investigator Suzanne Winter “did not sufficiently address the possibilities of human or computer error” as explanations for the shortfalls.
Ms Winter previously told the probe she could not question Horizon system experts because she believed “if you started to challenge too much, it didn’t go well”.
Mr Shiels said helpline call logs which showed problems encountered by Ms McKelvey using Horizon, as well as discrepancies in the accounts, were not drawn to his attention before the decision was taken to prosecute.
The lawyer admitted the call logs may have changed his view on whether the prosecution test was met.
Christopher Jacobs, representing Ms McKelvey, asked Mr Shiels why a review was not carried out despite the trial judge labelling the case “a sham”.
Mr Shiels replied: “If the judge made those comments I would expect a review to be carried out… or questions to be asked.
Mr Jacobs continued: “But you weren’t even told about the outcome, were you Mr Shiels?”
Mr Shiels responded: “No.”
Mr Jacobs then asked: “Do you think that perhaps if there had been a review… that it might have thrown up the fact that certain information that should have been provided to you by the Post Office, wasn’t?”
Mr Shiels said: “Yes, I agree with that.”
Concluding his questioning, Mr Jacobs said: “We understand that 29 subpostmasters were prosecuted in Northern Ireland.
“Had there been a review in 2004, as a prosecutor yourself, do you think that might have changed how matters were dealt with in investigations going forward?”
Mr Shiels replied: “Possibly, yes.”