The following excerpts are from Nick Wallis and his book The Great Post Office Scandal;
Holroyde finished by listing the appellants whose convictions had been quashed.
Their prosecutions were an affront to the public conscience and an affront to the conscience of the court.
They should never have been prosecuted.
They are completely vindicated.
Excerpts by Nick Wallis from his book The Great British Post Office Scandal published by Helen Lacey & David Chaplin of Bath publishing via kindle October 2021
Nick Wallis then listed the names of 39 people who had their convictions deemed “unsafe” by the court of appeal judges in April 2021.
One of those names was Carl Page.
In his 25th October 2023 witness statement for the post office Horizon IT inquiry, Warwick Tatford states at paragraph 16, on Carl Page and his case;
There seems to have been a misunderstanding in the court of appeal in Hamilton & others as to the facts of count 2.
Paragraphs 277 – 285 seem to be incorrect in a number of important respects, unless other information was presented to the court of appeal which does not appear in the judgement.
Warwick Tatford – Excerpts from witness statement for post office horizon inquiry dated 25th October 2023 here
Then at paragraph 20 he states;
It follows from all this that the criticisms made by Holroyd LJ in Hamilton & others [at 279] about the crown changing its case between the 2 trials, are, perhaps, I am afraid, incorrect.
I do not know how the court of appeal came to this view…
Warwick Tatford – Excerpts from witness statement for post office horizon inquiry dated 25th October 2024 here
Then at paragraph 22, Warwick Tatford states, in part;
…in the months that followed that trial, the post office received information to suggest that Carl Page may have perjured himself in an aspect of his evidence in the trial.
He had spent some time in his evidence in his first trial setting out his military record and he claimed he had served in a secret capacity which he could not divulge.
Rather naively we had not considered that he might have been telling lies on this point and we did not investigate this matter during the trial.
This was a mistake.
In fact the CV Mr Page supplied to the Post Office, when first seeking a role as a SPM, referred to no military background; rather it suggested that he had a reasonable amount of accountancy experience
Perhaps he had hoped to create sympathy with the jury, from a military record, and had hoped to hide accountancy experience, which wouldn’t have sat well with his defence of incompetence.
My recollection is that the Crown served, in a notice of additional evidence which has not been provided to me, evidence which could potentially prove these apparent lies at the re-trial.
Warwick Tatford – Excerpts from witness statement for post office horizon inquiry dated 25th October 2024 here
Paragraphs 277 – 285 of the appeal courts judgement can be read here and Warwick Tatford’s statement, which includes some details of the case against Carl Page can be read from paragraph 13 – 37 here
The BBC reported on Carl Page and John Whitehouse’s trial in June 2005 here under the header Pair ‘involved in £1m euro fraud’.
Excerpts from another BBC article, reporting on the conclusion of their 6 week trial stated;
A businessman defrauded the Post Office of about £1m by buying and selling euros at “massively favourable” rates, Wolverhampton Crown Court has heard.
John Whitehouse, 61, purchased about 11 million euros at a branch in Rugeley, Staffs, over a one-year period, and quickly sold them on to other outlets.
Carl Page, 37, of Uttoxeter, traded with Mr Whitehouse, also of Uttoxeter, at unauthorised rates, the court heard.
The sub-postmaster denies defrauding the Post Office, as does Mr Whitehouse.
Mr Page also denies a separate charge of stealing £292,000 from the Post Office.
The court heard that the sub-postmaster gave Mr Whitehouse his own special rates, even though the Post Office had set daily exchange rates for all its bureaux de change across the country.
Mr Whitehouse was arrested with £582,000 worth of euros in a holdall outside a bureau de change in Birmingham on 13 January 2003.
The court was told that Mr Whitehouse told police he did not know why he got such a good rate at Rugeley post office.
He said he had “spotted a niche in the market” and described it as a “magic formula”.
Mr Page admitted to officers that he gave favourable rates to Whitehouse.
But he claimed his employers were still making a profit and his line managers knew he was setting his own rates in order to secure business from rival outlets.
Both John Whitehouse and Carl Page were found not guilty but Carl Page faced a re-trial for theft.
Excerpts from a BBC article headed Euro fraud accused man not guilty dated 25th July 2005
A January 2024 article here by Mark Andrews for the Wolverhampton Express and Star states that Carl Page “has told the Horizon Post Office Inquiry how he lay on a railway track in an attempt to take his own life”.
The article also falsely states that Carl Page was “a Gulf War veteran…”
Thief and fraudster Carl Page’s 13th January 2022 witness statement for the inquiry can be read here
INNOCENCE FRAUD WATCH 