A former Post Office investigator still believes North Uist sub-postmaster William Quarm stole money from his branch – despite a court overturning his wrongful conviction.
Mr Quarm, known as Bill, died in 2012 aged 69, two years after he pleaded guilty to embezzling money from the Post Office he ran with his wife Anne in Paible.
He had been convicted and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
He died two years later at the age of 69 and his conviction was successfully quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh last year.
Mr Quarm’s widow, Anne, previously said she believed her husband was innocent because he was an “honourable man” and a “good husband and father”.
Investigator appears at inquiry
At the Horizon IT inquiry in London on Wednesday, former investigator Raymond Grant gave his personal view under questioning from counsel Jason Beer KC.
Asked if he thought Mr Quarm “was still guilty of the crime of embezzlement” at the time of his witness statement, Mr Grant said: “Yes, I did.”
He added: “I’ve subsequently been advised that the verdict has been reversed, so he is now not guilty of the offence.”
Asked for his personal opinion of the original verdict now, Mr Grant continued: “In my mind, I still think that Mr Quarm had a role to play in the loss of the money.”
Pressed to answer if he thought he was still guilty of the crime, he added: “Yes I do.”
Asked if that is despite the High Court overturning the conviction, Mr Grant replied: “Yes.”
Raymond Grant was employed by Royal Mail Group in various roles for 26 years from 1982. One of which was an investigations manager, based in Perth, looking at suspected fraud.
The inquiry was shown a statement about the investigation of the Paible Sub Post Office Branch, within the Bayhead shop.
It stated overnight cash holdings were fluctuating between a few hundred to tens of thousands of pounds.
An audit was ordered about cash holdings in the summer of 2008.
In a BBC interview earlier this month, Mrs Quarm said her late husband had been increasingly suicidal due to the situation.
She said: “Bill came home looking like death and crying and saying ‘I’ve had these guys in bullying me from the Post Office’.”
Mrs Quarm said she believed her husband because he was an “honourable man” and a “good husband and father”.
The widow said she had “no reason to believe otherwise”.
At the inquiry on January 24, Mr Grant was also questioned repeatedly on why he had submitted a short witness statement and told to explain why he struggled to get through documents sent to him.
Mr Grant, now working for the Salvation Army, said he was set a deadline of January 2 to provide answers to questions posed by the inquiry’s legal team. After saying it was “not physically possible”, he was told he would “potentially be breaking the law”.
“My pleadings were going on deaf ears,” he said.
He also told Mr Beer he has no formal legal qualifications.
Horizon scandal continues
More than 700 branch managers were prosecuted by the Post Office after Fujitsu’s faulty accounting software, Horizon, made it look as though money was missing from their shops.
The saga prompted an outcry across the country after it was dramatised in the ITV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office earlier this month.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters are awaiting compensation despite the Government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.
The P&J has attempted to contact Mr Quarm’s family.
