Ex-Fujitsu engineer admits changing court testimony at request of Post Office

In the Post Office Horizon scandal, former Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins admitted to altering crucial expert court testimony at the request of the Post Office during wrongful prosecutions of branch operators. Jenkins, a key figure in designing the flawed Horizon IT system, stated that lawyers had asked him to modify witness statements. Despite acknowledging bugs in the Horizon software, Jenkins claimed it was generally functioning well. The Horizon system played a central role in the scandal, leading to the wrongful prosecution of 900 post office operators due to financial discrepancies caused by system errors. Jenkins, facing a judge-led inquiry, is under investigation for possible perjury and perverting the course of justice. He expressed regret for his actions and stated that he made changes to his evidence based on suggestions from Post Office lawyers. The inquiry aims to determine if the Post Office and contractors were aware of system bugs before the prosecutions and if they concealed crucial evidence about Horizon during the legal proceedings. Jenkins' testimony shed light on the manipulation of evidence and the challenges faced by those wrongfully convicted based on Horizon data.