There's been a slight hold-up as a witness statement is printed for Daily to read during the session. He's now got that statement and we're getting going with his testimony.

Image source, Youtube/Post Office inquiry

Robert Daily, the former Post Office investigator, is currently being sworn in and will shortly begin giving evidence.

Daily was involved in the criminal investigations of sub-postmasters William Quarm and Peter Holmes who died before their convictions were overturned.

Stay with us as we bring you key updates from his evidence.

Image source, ITV

• 1999: The Horizon accounting system is rolled out in Post Offices across the UK
• 2000: The first issue with the system is reported by Alan Bates, sub-postmaster of a branch in Wales
• 2003: Bates loses his job after refusing to accept responsibility for missing funds in the branch accounts
• 2004: More sub-postmasters find themselves asked questions about missing funds - at times in the tens of thousands of pounds. Jobs are lost, some are declared bankrupt and some eventually sent to prison
• 2010: A high-profile case of wrongful conviction occurs - pregnant Surrey sub-postmaster Seema Misra is jailed after being accused of stealing £74,000
• 2012: Formal investigations into the Horizon software begin
• 2015: The Post Office halts private prosecutions of sub-postmasters
• 2017: Legal action is launched against the Post Office by a group of 555 sub-postmasters
• 2019: Post Office CEO Paula Vennells stands down, before the company agrees to pay £58m to the 555 sub-postmasters
• 2021: The public inquiry into the scandal begins
• 2023: The government announces that every wrongly convicted sub-postmaster will be offered £600,000 in compensation
• 2024: There's a resurgence of interest in the scandal after ITV releases a mini-series titled Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Vennells hands back her CBE. The government announced it will bring in a new law to "swiftly exonerate and compensate victims" of the scandal

Today’s Post Office inquiry hearing is about to get under way. Robert Daily, a former Post Office investigator, is the only person giving evidence today.

We're hearing there will be a slight delay to the start time of the inquiry session, which is due to begin at 10:00 GMT.

You can watch all the latest from inquiry by pressing Play at the top of the page.

Sean Seddon
Live reporter

The government has announced plans to overturn the convictions of more than 900 people linked to the Post Office scandal. More than 4,000 people in total have been told they are eligible for compensation.

The three main schemes are aimed at groups of victims who had different experiences of the scandal.

The Group Litigation Order(GLO) scheme relates to the group of 555 sub-postmasters who brought a landmark court case against the Post Office. It was depicted in an ITV drama.

While the cohort secured a £42.5m settlement in 2019, the huge costs of going to the High Court meant each claimant received a relatively low compensation pay-out at the end of it. This scheme aims to ensure they receive extra money to reflect the gravity of their situations.

The Overturned Convictions scheme is set for those whose convictions are overturned and they can choose to take a fast-tracked £600,000 settlement, or can enter into negotiations if they feel they are entitled to more.

The Horizon Shortfall Scheme is intended for those sub-postmasters who weren't convicted or part of the GLO court action. It is administered by the Post Office.

• You can read more on the compensations here

The prime minister says the government will bring in a new law to clear the names of all the sub-postmasters and mistresses in England and Wales who were wrongfully convicted because of a faulty computer system.

According to the Department for Business and Trade there have been 983 UK-wide convictions, with 700 being Post Office prosecutions and 283 prosecutions brought by other groups, including the Crown Prosecution Service, since the Horizon System was installed in 1999.

So far just 95 have had their convictions overturned.

The Post Office prosecutions include some in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where separate action will have to be taken to clear those affected.

Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf says he is also keen to work with UK ministers on the issue.

Emily Atkinson
Live reporter, at the inquiry

It's a grey, drizzly morning here in central London. I'm waiting outside Aldwych House, where the Post Office inquiry is taking place.

There's a handful of people outside - mainly camera crews. Some, not me, had the foresight to bring umbrellas.

There's a steady turnout for today's hearing compared to last week's grilling of Fujitsu's Europe CEO, Paul Patterson.

But it's an important day, nonetheless. The inquiry is set to hear evidence on prosecutions in both England and Scotland through former Post Office investigator, Robert Daily.

I'm about to take my place in the inquiry room. From there, we'll begin hearing evidence from 10:00 GMT.

Anne Quarm, the widow of William Quarm - the wrongly accused postmaster who died before his name was cleared - talks about her the devastating impact accusations had on her husband.

She says her husband was haunted by feelings of shame and thought about taking his own life after being accused of stealing money from the Post Office.

Image source, ITV

The ITV series ‘Mr Bates Vs The Post Office’ has thrust the Post Office scandal into the national consciousness.

The show came out on New Year’s Day and follows the real story of postmaster Alan Bates and the legal battle he led and won against the Post Office.

Since the series aired on 1 January, more than 100 other potential victims have contacted their lawyers, claiming they were wrongly prosecuted by the institution.

The government announced plans to clear the names of hundreds of people wrongly convicted in the scandal.

Image source, PA Media

While we wait to hear from former Post Office investigator Robert Daily, let’s remind ourselves of what the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry actually is.

It began in June 2021 - 12 years after victims of the scandal first called for it - but these latest evidence sessions are set against a backdrop of increased scrutiny about the miscarriage of justice, following the broadcast of ITV's mini-series Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

• Who's in charge? Its chairman is Sir Wyn Williams, a former High Court judge. Since his retirement, he’s mostly been involved in mediating sports-related disputes - until he took on the Post Office inquiry
• What's been covered so far? The inquiry has already heard about how the scandal has impacted victims, looked at the design and rollout of the Horizon IT system, and considered how disputes were resolved and how errors in the system were fixed
• Where are we at now? Phase four. This is all about the action taken against sub-postmasters and postmistresses. Over the next fortnight, the inquiry will look at criminal investigations and prosecutions in Scotland and Northern Ireland
• How long will it take? There are another three phases to get through - the inquiry’s official timeline, external says it expects to have done this by the end of summer
• What can it do? Public inquiries respond to "public concern" about events. They can demand evidence, and compel witnesses to attend, but at the end no-one is found guilty or innocent - instead conclusions and recommendations are published by the chair

Shona MacDonald
BBC Naidheachdan

Image source, Anne Quarm

This week, we’ll hear from several key figures involved in the wrongful prosecution of sub-postmaster William Quarm - known affectionately as Bill.

Quarm was haunted by feelings of shame and thought about taking his own life after being accused of stealing money from the Post Office, his widow previously told the BBC.

The father of five, who ran a post office in the Western Isles, pleaded guilty in 2010 to embezzling money to avoid going to prison.

Quarm, who suffered from ill-health, died in 2012 aged 69.

His conviction was overturned last year.

His widow, Anne, said the threat of jail had been devastating: "The fear in his eyes - I’ll never forget it.”

• You can read his story here.

Image source, .

Peter Holmes managed a post office in a Newcastle suburb until 2008.

Then, the Post Office audited his accounts and suspended him for what they claimed was the theft of £46,000.

He was convicted in January 2010 and sentenced to a community order.

The local newspaper ran a story about his conviction on its front page, along with Peter's picture. Peter's widow, Marion, who was married to him for 51 years, says her late husband's reputation was "destroyed" by the Post Office.

He died from a brain tumour aged 74, in 2015. Six years after his death, Peter’s conviction was overturned at the Court of Appeal.

• Read more: The ordinary lives devastated by a faulty IT system

It's not immediately clear how many people in Scotland have been affected by the scandal as the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service holds sole responsibility for prosecutions.

That's different to England where the Post Office prosecuted cases.

In 2020, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) - which investigates possible miscarriages of justice - wrote to 73 potential victims of the Horizon scandal in Scotland.

As of December 2023, only 16 people had come forward in Scotland to ask for their convictions to be reviewed.

That number may rise in the coming days and weeks given the renewed publicity around the Horizon scandal.

A UK-wide public inquiry into the scandal is ongoing and in 2022 it came to Glasgow to hear evidence from affected sub-postmasters and mistresses in Scotland.

• Read more here.

Emily Atkinson
Live reporter, at the inquiry

Image source, Reuters

Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.

Over the next two weeks, the inquiry will hear evidence from former investigators, lawyers and security team members involved in prosecuting sub-postmasters in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Today, it’s the turn of Robert Daily, a former Post Office investigator involved in the criminal investigations of sub-postmasters William Quarm and Peter Holmes.

Quarm ran a post office branch the Western Isles and Holmes in Newcastle. Both men died before they saw justice.

Through their stories, the inquiry will spend Tuesday considering the differences between how sub-postmasters were prosecuted in Scotland and England (we’ll get into the basics shortly).

I’ll be bringing you all the action from inside Aldwych House today, while my colleagues in our London newsroom provide rolling text updates of the back and forth.

As always, can watch the hearing live from 10:00 GMT by clicking the Play button at the top of this page.