UK sub-postmasters have convictions quashed after huge miscarriage of justice

UK sub-postmasters have convictions quashed after huge miscarriage of justice

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by Mick the Ram

A law quashing hundreds of convictions that were handed out as a result of the UK’s post-office scandal, has this week been approved by Parliament and received Royal Assent. It is likely to be one of the final bills to be passed ahead of the general election.

Between 1999 and 2015 hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted with many going to prison for false accounting and theft, with a high proportion of them financially ruined, and it was all due to a faulty accountancy software system called Horizon, which showed errors that never actually existed.

A public inquiry is now into its third year and the case is seen as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. The Metropolitan Police is currently investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences.

Those who have their convictions overturned will be eligible for compensation payments from the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, which will be set up after the legislation is passed.

The unprecedented law has been driven through in the wake of the public outcry brought about by a TV drama broadcast at the beginning of the year, which highlighted the story and the shocking treatment of the victims. 

Immediate problems with system ignored

The Horizon software system was developed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, for tasks such as accounting and stocktaking. After an initial pilot scheme for several branches, the Post Office introduced it across the network and almost immediately sub-postmasters were complaining about bugs in the system, after it falsely reported shortfalls – often for many thousands of pounds – but their concerns fell on deaf ears.

Indeed, rather than offering support, the Post Office insisted that Horizon was robust and insisted that sub-postmasters were duty-bound to “repay” the false shortfalls. This resulted in literally hundreds being wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, despite the company having knowledge of the faults in the system throughout criminal and civil cases.

Lives ruined and sadly ended

Former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses have been telling the inquiry that the scandal has ruined their lives, with many explaining that they were forced to use their own money to cover non-existent shortfalls, because their contracts said they were responsible for unexplained losses.

Bankruptcy and loss of livelihood followed, with suspensions and dismissals. These led to marriage breakdowns, serious physical and mental health conditions, addictions and even premature death.

Statutory public inquiry begins

In 2016 a group of 555 people took the Post Office to the High Court, which led to a judge ruling that the contracts were unfair, and a settlement award of £58 million.

This opened the way for sub-postmasters to challenge their convictions in the courts and in 2020, the government established an independent inquiry into the scandal, which was upgraded into a statutory public inquiry the following year.

TV show brings scandal to new audience

It was in January of this year that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced that the government would introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal, would have their convictions swiftly quashed and qualify for compensation.

This coincided with the release of a four-part television drama, entitled: “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” being broadcast and suddenly it was a major news story and political issue, gripping the nation.

Former CEO refuses to accept blame

At the time of the announcement of the quashing of the convictions, the inquiry saw the former Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells giving evidence and being grilled over three days. She had resigned her position in 2019, and earlier this year, following public pressure, she handed back her CBE.

Lawyers for the sub-postmasters accused her of repeatedly laying blame on others, living in “la-la land” and being in a “cloud of denial” over her role in the scandal.

She had frequent bouts of tearful episodes throughout her questioning, which were met with little sympathy and often greeted with sarcastic laughter.

The nearest she got to any sort of acceptance of responsibility was when she admitted that “the Post Office did not always take the right path!”

As the final cost of the compensation is expected to exceed a staggering £1billion, that might be considered something of an understatement!