I remember reading about this in Computer Weekly and given my background in application software my reaction was that of course they're innocent, the story as describe just reeked of there being a bug. Software always has bugs and as software support you should expect them to occur.
A while later I was at a computer conference and there was a keynote speech given by the Minister responsible for IT. At the end there was a Q and A, and it was all sweetness and light until this women stood up, she identified herself as a journalist from Computer Weekly and asked a question - this Minister did an immediate Jekyll and Hyde act and absolutely slaughtered her. I was shocked.
This happened 3/4 years before I retired, so about 12/13 years ago, maybe a little more.