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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Tim Parker, Post Office chair from 2015 to 2022, reportedly said he regretted accepting legal advice to keep a critical Horizon report secret. The report in question was the Swift review. Computer Weekly reported that it was not made available to the Post Office board and was absent from evidence in the 2018/19 High Court case. Parker gave evidence to the statutory Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry on 18 June 2024.
What Parker said he regretted
Computer Weekly reported on 3 July 2024 that Parker regretted accepting legal advice to keep the Swift review secret. That is a reported account of his evidence, not a verified verbatim quotation of a full sentence. The published reporting does not establish that Parker admitted a deliberate cover-up, and the reported regret should not be read as a finding about his intent.
Parker was Post Office chair from 2015 to 2022. He gave evidence at the inquiry hearing on 18 June 2024. The inquiry’s hearing page and transcript are the primary record of his evidence; the available reporting summarizes the admission but does not provide a verified extended quotation. Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: Phase 5 hearing record.
Which Horizon report was kept from the board?
The report at the centre of the headline is the Swift review. Computer Weekly reported that the review was not made available to the Post Office board and was not made available in evidence during the 2018/19 High Court litigation over Horizon-related accounting losses. It also reported that Sarah Munby, then permanent secretary at the responsible department, criticized Parker’s decision in a letter in October 2020.
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Swift should not be confused with Second Sight, a separate review of Horizon-related cases. The inquiry’s evidence archive includes material concerning both reports and the wider disclosure history. For example, its index identifies a briefing note dated 8 July 2013 about the interim Second Sight review; that document is not the Swift review. Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: All Evidence archive and FUJ00081852, briefing note on the interim Second Sight review.
Why disclosure mattered to subpostmasters
The Swift review’s circulation and disclosure matter in the context of wider concerns about Horizon’s reliability. The Criminal Cases Review Commission’s account of its review of Post Office cases describes significant Horizon and branch-accounting problems, including a material risk that apparent shortfalls were caused by bugs or defects. It also identifies a failure by the Post Office to disclose the full position on Horizon’s reliability. Those findings provide context for why information held within the organization could matter to people accused of accounting shortfalls.
That context does not establish that withholding the Swift review alone caused wrongful convictions. The CCRC describes a broader set of Horizon and disclosure problems, and the inquiry was established to create a clear account of Horizon’s implementation and failings. Its first final-report volume focuses on human impact and redress. Criminal Cases Review Commission: Post Office ‘Horizon’ Cases and Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry: About the inquiry.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the report does—and does not—establish
The headline captures a significant reported expression of regret by a former chair about accepting advice on keeping the Swift review secret. It does not, on its own, settle the review’s full contents, the legal basis for withholding it, Parker’s intent, or the precise effect of the decision on individual cases. Those questions require the inquiry’s full evidence and relevant underlying records, rather than an inference from the reported admission.
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