The Democracy New | A former Post Office manager of Indian descent in London, who was wrongly imprisoned during her pregnancy, has turned down the apology of an engineer whose testimony led to her conviction for using faulty accounting software.
Seema Misra, aged 47, had her sentence overturned in April 2021 by the Court of Appeal, which determined that she was unjustly jailed more than 12 years ago for allegedly embezzling GBP 75,000 from the Post Office she managed in Surrey.
During the current public investigation into the scandal, she informed the BBC that former Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins' apology was insufficient and delayed. Her response came after Jenkins submitted a written witness statement to the Post Office Inquiry, where he expressed that he was unaware of Mrs. Misra's pregnancy during her conviction, only finding out many years later.
This further increases the tragedy of what has occurred. I can only offer my apologies, once more, to Mrs. Misra and her family for the incident that occurred to her.
The ex-engineer involved in 15 sub-postmaster cases as an expert witness is under police investigation for possible perjury or misleading the court. In a previous statement made to the inquiry, he refuted any accusations of misconduct.
Earlier, Misra had turned down an apology from former Post Office Managing Director David Smith for a congratulatory email he had sent following Misra's conviction.
Smith stated in his written testimony to the investigation that the email was meant to congratulate the team for their hard work on the case.
Understanding what I know now, it is clear that my email would have impacted Seema Misra.