Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced that the government will clear Post Office branch managers who were wrongly convicted of fraud and theft between 1999 and 2015.
The convictions were part of the Horizon IT scandal, which saw around 700 postmasters and sub-postmasters wrongly accused owing to an error in accounting software made by the Japanese firm Fujitsu.
They were accused of theft, false accounting, and fraud. Many were convicted and sent to prison.
A public inquiry was set up in 2020, which was converted to a statutory inquiry in 2021, and is due to finish this year.
The Post Office workers whose convictions are quashed, are eligible for a £600,000 compensation payment. They could receive more if they have their claim assessed individually.
Mr. Sunak also announced a new upfront payment of £75,000 “for the vital GLO group of postmasters” will also be introduced. The GLO group members are 555 sub-postmasters and mistresses who successfully challenged the Post Office over the Horizon accusations at the High Court in 2019.
Mr. Sunak described the Post Office scandal as “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history.”
“People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and reputations destroyed though absolutely no fault of their own,” Mr. Sunak said.
Exceptional Case
The government’s decision to introduce primary legislation means that some sub-postmasters who did commit crimes will be wrongly cleared. However, ministers have argued that new legislation would be the most effective approach to dealing with the mass miscarriage of justice.The new legislation route also means that to overturn a conviction related to the scandal, there won’t be a requirement to go to the Criminal Cases Review Commission and through a Court of Appeal process.
This was confirmed by the Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake, speaking to MPs on Wednesday.
The exceptional nature of the approach to overturning convictions in the Horizon scandal “cannot be treated as a precedent,” said the Law Society of England and Wales President Nick Emmerson.
He added that it will not “justify further government intervention in the independence of our justice system.”
In order to receive the £600,000 compensation, the claimants will be required to sign a declaration that they weren’t guilty. Anyone found guilty in the future could be prosecuted for trying to defraud the government of the compensation.
Mr. Hollinrake told MPs that 95 out of more than 900 convictions have been overturned. He added that the government wants to ensure that “guilty people” don’t take advantage of the compensation scheme and walk away with taxpayers’ money.
The legislation is meant to be introduced “within weeks” and will be “well supported,” according to Downing Street.
The long-running battle for justice in the Horizon scandal received greater attention after ITV broadcast the drama “Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office.” The series centered on the story of former sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who has been campaigning for justice.
Mr. Sunak’s spokesperson said on Wednesday that it would be “common sense” to honour Mr. Bates with an OBE. Senior minister Esther McVey said she would like to see Mr. Bates knighted “as soon as possible.”
The campaigner is said to have refused an OBE while the former head of the Post Office Paula Vennells still held the CBE she received deep into the scandal in 2019.
Ms. Vennells has recently announced that she will hand back her CBE with immediate effect.
