Former Royal Mail chair apologises for ‘tragic’ Post Office prosecutions

Allan Leighton denies having received any warnings that the Horizon IT system was unreliable

A former chair of Royal Mail has apologised for the “tragic and diabolically unfair” prosecutions of post office operators, but denied ever having been informed of suspected problems with the Post Office’s faulty Horizon computer system.

Allan Leighton, who chaired Royal Mail from 2002 to 2009, when it also owned the Post Office, told a statutory inquiry that had “absolutely not” received any warnings that the Horizon system was unreliable.