Post Office to fight six appeals in IT scandal

The Post Office is opposing attempts by six former sub-postmasters to overturn their convictions in a huge IT scandal.

They are part of the latest batch of 12 cases before the Court of Appeal, arising from problems with the faulty Post Office computer system, Horizon.

Another four cases are uncontested by the Post Office, while more time is being sought for another two cases.

So far, 59 former sub-postmasters who were wrongly accused of stealing money have had convictions overturned.

• Why were hundreds of sub-postmasters prosecuted?

Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds were sacked or prosecuted after money appeared to vanish from accounts at their branches.

The problems were caused by the Horizon computer system in Post Office branches which turned out to be flawed. Some sub-postmasters served time in jail as a result of the convictions.

About 600 may seek to have their criminal convictions overturned, while dozens are currently being considered by the Court of Appeal.

Bugs and defects

In total, there were more than 700 prosecutions based on evidence from the Horizon software system.

Hundreds of people who ran Post Office branches were subsequently convicted of various offences, including theft and false accounting, when the system was used.

Following the convictions, some of these former postmasters went to prison, were shunned by their communities and struggled to secure work. Some lost their homes and even failed to get insurance owing to their convictions. Some have since died.

However, the IT was found to have bugs and defects that left a black hole in accounts.

The Post Office has said it is helping individuals with access to information for the legal process, but has decided to oppose 24 of those appeals to date.