Phase 4 Hearing Schedule
Hearings will normally take place on Tuesdays to Fridays, from 10:00 to 16:30. The below schedule is indicative and may be subject to change.
Applications for public gallery attendance at November - December hearings have now closed. The hearings are streamed via the Inquiry's YouTube channel, on a three-minute delay.
Phase 4 is examining 'Action against Sub-postmasters and others: policy making, audits and investigations, civil and criminal proceedings, knowledge of and responsibility for failures in investigation and disclosure'.
Please note that many individuals who are listed below have held various posts during the period that is covered by the Inquiry.
Witness Timetable
London – Aldwych House
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies (continued) and Disclosure Hearing | |
| Thursday 11 January |
Stephen Bradshaw (Post Office investigator) |
| Friday 12 January | |
| Fujitsu Prosecution Support | |
| Tuesday 16 January |
Rajbinder Sangha (née Bains) (Release Management Coordinator, Fujitsu Services Limited; former member of Fujitsu’s Fraud and Litigation Support Office) |
| Wednesday 17 January |
John Simpkins (Team Leader within Fujitsu Software Support Centre) Gerald Barnes (Software Developer, Fujitsu) |
| Thursday 18 January |
Gerald Barnes (Software Developer, Fujitsu), continued Peter Sewell (former Project Manager and Operations Team Manager, Post Office Account Security Team, Fujitsu) Donna Munro (former Systems Management Centre Team Leader and Security Operations Manager, Fujitsu) |
|
Friday 19 January |
William Paul Patterson (Director of Fujitsu Services Limited) |
|
Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland |
|
| Tuesday 23 January |
Robert Daily (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Peter Holmes (English jurisdiction) and William Quarm) |
|
Wednesday 24 January |
Raymond Grant (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of William Quarm) |
|
Thursday 25 January |
David Teale (lawyer involved in the prosecution of William Quarm) |
| Friday 26 January |
Suzanne Winter (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Alan McLaughlin and Maureen McKelvey) |
| Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions in Northern Ireland (cont.) and Security Team Casework Management | |
| Tuesday 30 January |
Frederick Leslie Thorpe (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Alan McLaughlin and Maureen McKelvey) |
| Wednesday 31 January |
Kevin Shiels (lawyer involved in the prosecution of Maureen McKelvey) |
| Thursday 1 February |
Graham Ward (former Post Office Security Team Casework Manager and Financial Investigator) |
|
Friday 2 February |
Oral Closing Statements on behalf of Core Participants to the Inquiry
A list of core participant sub-postmasters/managers/assistants/family members and their legal representatives is available here. |
Previous Phase 4 Hearings - 2023:
|
Date |
Witness |
|
Action against Sub-postmasters: Policy and Practice |
|
|
Tuesday 4 July |
Ben Foat, Group General Counsel, Post Office Limited - further information on this evidence session is available here Martin Ferlinc, former Post Office Limited Head of Network Audit |
|
Wednesday 5 July |
Tony Marsh, former Post Office Limited Head of Security |
|
Thursday 6 July |
Counsel to the Inquiry, Jason Beer KC, explained that evidence from former Fujitsu engineer, Gareth Jenkins, would be postponed to a later date, following Post Office disclosure failings. Find out more |
|
Action against Sub-postmasters: Policy and Practice (continued) |
|
|
Tuesday 11 July |
Update: Oral submissions on behalf of Core Participants to the Inquiry on disclosure issues. Read more Following oral submissions on disclosure issues, Sir Wyn Williams decided to postpone Phase 4 Week 2 and Week 3 proceedings. The recording and transcript of the Chair giving his decision is available here. On 14 July 2023, Sir Wyn gave a determination and issued further Directions to the Post Office. Read his determination here. |
| Postponed | |
|
Action against Sub-postmasters: Policy and Practice (continued) |
|
|
Postponed |
|
|
Action against Sub-postmasters: Early Proceedings by the Post Office: Cleveleys Post Office Case Study |
|
|
Wednesday 26 July TIME: 0930 - 1400 |
Jason Coyne, expert in the Cleveleys case Susanne Helliwell, solicitor acting for Post Office Limited in the Cleveleys case |
|
Thursday 27 July |
Susanne Helliwell, solicitor acting for Post Office Limited in the Cleveleys case Colin Lenton-Smith, former Fujitsu Pathway Commercial and Financial Director |
|
Friday 28 July |
Jan Holmes, former Fujitsu Audit Manager |
|
Date |
Witness |
|
Early Proceedings by the Post Office: Marine Drive Post Office Case |
|
|
Tuesday 19 September TIME: 0900 - 1400 |
Helen Rose, former Post Office / Royal Mail Group Auditor |
|
Wednesday 20 September |
Davlyn Cumberland, former Advisor for the Post Office Suspense Accounts Team Andrew Wise, former Advisor in the Network Business Support Centre |
|
Thursday 21 September |
Stephen Dilley, Solicitor with conduct of the civil proceedings against Mr Castleton |
|
Friday 22 September |
Stephen Dilley, Solicitor with conduct of the civil proceedings against Mr Castleton (continued) Richard Morgan KC, Counsel for the Post Office in the civil proceedings against Mr Castleton |
|
Early Proceedings by the Post Office: Marine Drive Post Office Case (continued) |
|
|
Tuesday 26 September |
Anne Chambers, former Fujitsu Engineer Third Line Support |
|
Wednesday 27 September |
Anne Chambers, former Fujitsu Engineer Third Line Support |
|
Thursday 28 September |
Mandy Talbot, former Post Office legal case manager |
|
Friday 29 September |
John Jones, termination appeal adjudicator Simon Recaldin, Post Office Limited Remediation Unit Director |
| Early Proceedings by the Post Office: Marine Drive Post Office Case (continued) and Action against Sub-postmasters: Policy and Practice (continued) | |
|
Tuesday 3 October |
It has been necessary to postpone the evidence of the witness scheduled to give evidence on Tuesday 3 October. The Inquiry will, therefore, no longer be sitting on this date. The evidence which was due to be heard on 3 October will be re-scheduled in due course. |
|
Wednesday 4 October |
Non-sitting day |
|
Thursday 5 October |
Duncan Atkinson KC, criminal prosecutions expert witness |
|
Friday 6 October |
Duncan Atkinson KC, criminal prosecutions expert witness |
|
Action against Sub-postmasters: Policy and Practice (continued) |
|
|
Tuesday 10 October |
Andrew Hayward, former Post Office Limited Senior Security Programme Manager |
|
Wednesday 11 October |
John Scott, former Post Office Limited Head of Security |
|
Thursday 12 October |
Rob Wilson, former Head of the Royal Mail Group Criminal Law Team |
|
Friday 13 October |
Paul Inwood, former Post Office Limited Contract Manager Thomas Pegler, former Head of the Crown Network Service and Efficiency |
|
Action against Sub-postmasters: Policy and Practice (continued) |
|
|
Tuesday 17 October |
John Breeden, former Post Office Limited Contract Manager |
|
Wednesday 18 October Start time: 12:00 noon |
Alan Lusher, former Post Office Limited Audit Team and Contract Manager |
|
Thursday 19 October |
Alison Bolsover, former Post Office Limited Senior Debt Recovery Manager |
|
Friday 20 October Start time: 10:30 |
Marie Cockett, former Post Office Limited Branch Accounting Manager |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
| Tuesday 7 November |
Elaine Cottam (former Retail Line Manager involved in the civil proceedings brought by the Post Office against Julie Wolstenholme, subpostmaster at the Cleveleys Post Office branch) |
| Wednesday 8 November |
Teresa Williamson (former Post Office lawyer involved in the prosecution of Lisa Brennan) |
| Friday 10 November | Natasha Bernard (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Oyeteju Adedayo) |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
| Tuesday 14 November |
Debbie Stapel (former Post Office lawyer involved in the prosecution of Carl Page, Oyeteju Adedayo and Susan Rudkin) |
| Wednesday 15 November |
Warwick Tatford (external counsel instructed in the prosecutions brought against Carl Page and Seema Misra) |
| Thursday 16 November |
Paul Whitaker (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of David Blakey) Catherine Oglesby, former Post Office Contract Manager |
| Friday 17 November | Tony Utting (former Post Office designated prosecution authority in relation to the prosecution of Tahir Mahmood, Oyeteju Adedayo, Hughie Thomas, Suzanne Palmer and Janet Skinner and Josephine Hamilton) |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
| Wednesday 22 November |
Ged Harbinson (former Post Office financial investigator involved in the investigations relating to Tahir Mahmood, Hughie Thomas, Josephine Hamilton, Susan Rudkin and Julian Wilson) |
| Thursday 23 November |
Non-sitting day |
| Friday 24 November |
Diane Matthews (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Hughie Thomas and Janet Skinner) |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
| Tuesday 28 November |
Graham Brander (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Josephine Hamilton and Lynette Hutchings) |
|
Wednesday 29 November Time: 9:00 - 14:00 |
David Pardoe (Authorised prosecution in Hamilton, Rudkin, Wilson, Holmes, Misra, Hall, Hutchings, Allen, Ishaq and Sefton & Nield) |
| Thursday 30 November |
Jarnail Singh (former Post Office lawyer involved in the prosecution of David Blakey, Suzanne Palmer, Susan Rudkin, Julian Wilson, Seema Misra, Joan Bailey, Lynette Hutchings, Grant Allen, Angela Sefton and Anne Nield) |
| Friday 1 December |
Jarnail Singh (former Post Office lawyer involved in the prosecution of David Blakey, Suzanne Palmer, Susan Rudkin, Julian Wilson, Seema Misra, Joan Bailey, Lynette Hutchings, Grant Allen, Angela Sefton and Anne Nield) |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
|
Tuesday 5 December Start time: 11:00am |
David Posnett (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of David Yates, Seema Misra and Khayyam Ishaq) |
| Wednesday 6 December | David Posnett (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of David Yates, Seema Misra and Khayyam Ishaq) |
| Thursday 7 December |
Mike Wilcox (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Susan Rudkin) Gary Thomas (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Julian Wilson) |
| Friday 8 December |
Non-sitting day |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
| Tuesday 12 December |
Rob Wilson (former Post Office lawyer involved in the prosecution of Seema Misra, Allison Henderson and Khayyam Ishaq) |
| Wednesday 13 December |
Christopher Knight (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Allison Henderson and Alison Hall) Kevin Ryan (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Angela Sefton and Anne Nield) |
| Thursday 14 December | Non-sitting day |
| Friday 15 December | Andrew Bolc (external solicitor with Cartwright King, involved in the prosecution of Grant Allen, Khayyam Ishaq, Angela Sefton and Anne Nield) |
| Criminal Prosecution Case Studies | |
|
Monday 18 December Start time: 10:30am |
Duncan Atkinson KC (criminal prosecutions expert witness) |
| Tuesday 19 December | Duncan Atkinson KC (criminal prosecutions expert witness) |
| Wednesday 20 December | Lisa Allen (former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigation of Suzanne Palmer) |
