A FORMER Post Office boss admitted today that he failed to read a crucial IT report flagging the Horizon system as “clearly defective” which could have changed the course of the scandal. 

More than 700 subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty accounting software Horizon made it appear as though money was missing.

Hundreds faced jail and bankruptcy, accused of theft, false accounting and fraud. Five people committed suicide.