Post Office Lead Investigator
Dear Post Office Limited,
Post Office Investigator Paul Whitaker has been named in two witness statements published on the Post Office Horizon IT Public Inquiry Website. On both occasions, he was involved in the investigation of an alleged shortfall at a Sub-Post Office branch. Each case resulted in a conviction which has subsequently been overturned.
By 2010, Paul Whitaker had served as a Fraud Investigator for the Post Office Security Team for 12 years. During his time with PO Security he claimed to have been the lead fraud investigator in excess of 250 cases.
Please can you identify the total number of investigations undertaken by Paul Whitaker as lead investigator whilst an employee of PO Security.
Please can you disclose the number of cases in which Paul Whitaker was lead investigator, which led to a conviction. Please can you disclose the number of these convictions which have subsequently been revoked.
Yours sincerely
Eleanor Shaikh
Our ref: FOI2023/00204
Dear Eleanor Shaikh,
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 10th
April. Your request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
The Act requires that a response must be given promptly, and in any event
within 20 working days. We will therefore reply at the latest by 10th May.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Regards,
Information Rights Team
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
Dear Eleanor Shaikh
We are writing in respect of your information request, FOI2023/00204. At
present our view is that your request falls within the scope of the
qualified exemption at section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act ("
FOIA"), relating to health and safety.
As permitted by section 10 of the FOIA, Post Office Limited (" Post
Office") requires further time to consider the public interest test in
relation to this exemption. An extension is permitted until such time as
is reasonable in the circumstances. Having considered the FOIA Code of
Practice, Post Office considers that an extension of 20 working days is
appropriate in this instance and will therefore aim to respond to you by
8th June.
However, hope to be able to respond to you sooner and we thank you for
your patience.
With kind regards
Information Rights Team
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
[1][email address]
Post Office Limited is committed to protecting your privacy, information
about how we do this can be found on our website at
www.postoffice.co.uk/privacy
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Eleanor Shaikh
Further to our email of 10 May 2023, we are once again writing in respect
of your information request, FOI2023/00204. As we previously explained,
our view is that your request falls within the scope of the qualified
exemption at section 38 of the Freedom of Information Act (" FOIA"),
relating to health and safety.
As permitted by section 10 of the FOIA, Post Office Limited (" Post
Office") requires further time to consider the public interest test in
relation to this exemption. As before, we have considered the FOIA Code of
Practice, and Post Office considers that a further extension of 20 working
days is appropriate in this instance and will therefore aim to respond to
you by 6th July.
With kind regards,
Information Rights Team
100 Wood Street,
London,
EC2V 7ER
[1][email address]
Post Office Limited is committed to protecting your privacy, information
about how we do this can be found on our website at
www.postoffice.co.uk/privacy
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Eleanor Shaikh,
Thank you for your patience whilst we have been handling your information
request. Please find the attached response.
Kind regards,
Information Rights Team
100 Wood Street
London
EC2V 7ER
Dear Information Rights Team
Thank you for your response of 5 July 2023 and for your confirmation that information pertaining to FOI2023/00204 is held by the Post Office.
I agree that the mental and physical well-being of your staff/ex-staff is of paramount importance and this is a duty of care which extends, of course, to ex-Sub-Postmasters impacted by the Horizon scandal. Many have already suffered the tortuous consequences which you rightly argue can follow in the wake of identities of individuals being released into the public domain.
Survivors of this scandal may, equally, suffer untold mental anguish in the event of Post Office’s refusal to disclose information which may aid their defence in ongoing cases.
Paul Whitaker’s role as a Post Office investigator has already been exposed in at least three cases through the work of the Public Inquiry; there is at least one further case in which he was directly involved which is still active. The information you hold on Paul Whitaker which I have requested may be valuable evidence for the defendant in this particular case.
If you are not willing to release the requested information into the public domain via FOI for the reasons that you put forward, please can you confirm if you will disclose it to this person’s legal representatives in line with your duties as a former Prosecutor?
I hope that an internal review may be able to answer this question.
In arriving at its decision, I also hope that the Post Office’s regard for the health and safety of its former investigator will be weighed against the profound, long-term mental health consequences for an individual for whom the likelihood of overturning a conviction may depend, in part, on the disclosure of the requested information.
Yours sincerely,
Eleanor Shaikh
Dear Ms Shaikh,
Thank you for your email.
We have read the content of your email which suggests that you accept Post Office has a duty of care for past and present employees, and you are not challenging either the process or use of the exemption cited in FOI2023/00204, as per the scope of an internal review.
Therefore, before we begin to process your email, please can you clarify whether you are asking for an internal review of your initial request, or whether you are asking a new question about providing data to legal representatives? If you are requesting an internal review, please can you let us know what grounds you wish to appeal on.
Once you have clarified this, we will process it in our usual manner.
With kind regards,
Information Rights Team
Dear Information Rights Team,
Thank you for your email of 11 July 2023 in which you seek clarification regarding my request for an internal review.
I accept (though do not agree with) the Post Office’s decision not to disclose the information requested via FOI2023/00204 for reasons that you gave on 5 July 2023.
In my email of 8 July 2023, I made the counter point that the withholding of information can, equally, carry the risk of significant mental health impacts for an individual if the information being withheld may assist that person in overturning a conviction. If the Post Office is to argue a duty of care to the health and safety of its staff then it must, equally be cognisant of the health and safety of those if has convicted. I suggest this should be factored in to your decision on disclosure in this instance.
I therefore seek to know if the Post Office is willing to release the information I have requested to the legal representative of such an individual.
Whether or not this is under the auspices of an internal review is up to your team, but I shall, ultimately, request an internal review if the Post Office declines to confirm if it will disclose the information I have requested under the circumstances I have outlined.
I do not see this as a new request. I am asking for disclosure of the same information; in response to your preliminary decision, I am simply asking if that disclosure can be made to a third party if not to myself.
Many Thanks,
Yours sincerely
Eleanor Shaikh
Dear Eleanor Shaikh,
Thank you for your email, which we have consulted with internal colleagues on.
We are not able to answer a question about an unspecified case and, in any event, Post Office does not publicly comment on individual criminal cases outside of the appeals process. As a former prosecutor, Post Office has an ongoing duty of disclosure in all criminal cases and continues to discharge this duty. If an instructed solicitor or potential appellant wishes to seek specific disclosure of information pertinent to their case, Post Office will, of course, consider that request in line with our disclosure obligations and our intention to ensure all those whose convictions are unsafe are overturned.
We trust that this answers your points sufficiently.
With kind regards,
Information Rights Team
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