Post Office was urged by external lawyers to ‘suppress’ key document, inquiry hears

Email was sent suggesting postal company should withhold disclosing investigation guidelines

The Post Office was urged by its external law firm to “try and suppress” disclosure of a key document for “as long as possible” as branch owner-operators tried to mount legal action against the state-owned body, a public inquiry has heard.

Rodric Williams, a senior in-house lawyer at the Post Office, giving evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal was asked about an email sent to him in which it was suggested that his employer should withhold disclosing its investigation guidelines as it could harm its defence to a lawsuit brought by post office operators.