Post Office scandal: Scottish probe into sub-postmasters' convictions
- Published
Hundreds of postmasters were accused of offences after the Horizon system showed cash shortfalls
An investigation is to be carried out into possible miscarriages of justice involving a controversial Post Office computer system.
More than 70 sub-postmasters prosecuted for offences in Scotland such as fraud and theft are to be asked if they want their case re-examined.
It is the latest legal action in a scandal dating back to 1999.
Hundreds were accused after the Horizon system showed cash shortfalls at their branches.
Postmasters across the UK were held responsible for missing money because they supposedly had sole control of their Horizon accounts.
It led to many being sacked, going bankrupt or even sent to prison.
Although a total of 47 postmasters in England and Wales have had their cases referred to the Appeal Court, there has never been similar action in Scotland.
But now the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is writing to the people it believes may also have been the victims of possible miscarriages of justice in Scotland relating to the Horizon computer system.
What is the Horizon computer scandal?
The Horizon system is designed to record the transactions carried out in a post office branch
The Horizon system, developed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, was first rolled out in 1999 to some post offices to be used for a variety of tasks including accounting and stocktaking.
But from an early stage it appeared to have significant bugs which could cause the system to misreport, sometimes even substantial sums of money.
It was difficult for sub-postmasters to challenge errors because they were unable to access information about the software to do so.
After more than 900 prosecutions, 550 sub-postmasters raised civil actions against the Post Office which agreed to pay £58m damages.
The English Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred 47 convictions brought under Horizon evidence to the Appeal Court.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is also considering whether there should be charges of perjury against officials who claimed in court there were no problems with Horizon, even though emails and other documents now suggest they knew there were.
The information leaflet it has sent out said: "We think that it is possible that your case is one of those. If it is, we would like to make sure that you have the chance to apply to us.
"The Post Office identified your case as a Scottish prosecution during the relevant period (from 1999) in which they may have been involved."
The appeal cases in England and Wales followed a civil action involving 550 postmasters which resulted in a settlement by the Post Office in 2019 of £58m.
Sub-postmasters wrongly convicted could have their cases heard in Appeal Court
Imprisonment
But Daniel Fenn, SCCRC senior legal officer, said it only received data from the Post Office detailing convictions which may have been unsafe once the English action was concluded.
He said: "We're talking about 73 cases which may be affected - not definitely - but we are fairly sure the data is not complete, so it's entirely possible there may be other people involved.
"The 73 individuals, so far as we know, were people convicted in Scotland.
"There's a whole range of convictions involved, but in the main they were for fraud and false accounting.
"Some of them suffered penalties of imprisonment, the majority received community sentences and fines."
The SCCRC is asking people to contact it so it can determine whether the Horizon software was involved and attempt to remedy possible miscarriages of justice.
It said there may be a case to take to appeal even if a victim has now died - or had pled guilty in court in an attempt to reduce the sentence passed.
Calum Greenhow, the chief executive of the Subpostmasters' Federation, says cases could restore reputations
The National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) welcomed the intervention of the SCCRC.
Its chief executive, Calum Greenhow said: "We can't right the wrongs of the past.
"But what we can do is to ensure that through the Criminal Cases Review Commission those cases are actually brought to appeal."
He added: "I can't even begin to imagine what these people have been through. It's a story, but it's their story.
"And the reality is that they go to bed at night thinking about it, they wake up in the morning thinking about it.
"And what we've got to do is that not only are their reputations restored, but the losses they incurred are refunded as well."
The Post Office said it has already been in contact with the SCCRC in relation to historical Scottish convictions which relied on Post Office Horizon evidence.
It said it is conducting an extensive review of historical convictions which relied upon Horizon, to identify and disclose material that might cast doubt on the safety of those convictions.
In a statement it said: "We are working to fundamentally reform the Post Office, addressing past events to fairly resolve them and to forge an open and transparent relationship with the thousands of current postmasters providing customers with vital services in the UK's communities."