Up to 44 sub-postmasters are set to have their convictions for fraud, theft and false accounting quashed by the Court of Appeal after the Post Office said it won’t contest their cases.
The company today apologised for ‘historic failings’ which saw hundreds of employees wrongly sacked, forced to repay cash or wrongfully convicted – and some even jailed – after bosses pursued them for money ‘missing’ from branch accounts.
But it later emerged that shortfalls in the accounts of local branches were the result of flaws in their Horizon IT system, which was introduced to branches in 1999.
Even as evidence emerged that the computer system could be to blame, the Post Office continued to bully postmasters into pleading guilty to crimes bosses knew they had not committed.
The company paid a £58million settlement to postmasters last year after a High Court battle.
Up to 44 sub-postmasters are set to have their convictions for fraud, theft and false accounting quashed by the Court of Appeal after the Post Office said it won’t contest their cases
Post Office chairman Tim Parker said today: ‘I am sincerely sorry on behalf of the Post Office for historical failings which seriously affected some postmasters.
‘Post Office is resetting its relationship with postmasters with reforms that prevent such past events ever happening again.
‘Post Office wishes to ensure that all postmasters entitled to claim civil compensation because of their convictions being overturned are recompensed as quickly as possible.
‘Therefore, we are considering the best process for doing that.’
In addition to full co-operation with the Criminal Cases Review Commission’s review, the Post Office said it has set up an extensive disclosure exercise, by external criminal law specialists, to identify material which might affect the safety of any relevant historical prosecutions.
Solicitors acting for some of the sub-postmasters said it was a ‘landmark moment’.
Hudgell Solicitors, which represented 33 clients, said their convictions, which have been against the names of many for a decade or longer, will now be quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Solicitor Neil Hudgel said: ‘For the Post Office to concede defeat and not oppose these cases is a landmark moment, not only for these individuals but, in time, potentially hundreds of others.
‘We are obviously delighted for the people we represent. Clearing their names has been their driving goal from day one, as their reputations and livelihoods were so unfairly destroyed.
‘We must never forget that these people endured years of suffering and how these allegations and convictions affected not only the individuals themselves, but their loved ones too.
Post Office chairman Tim Parker (pictured with chief executive Paula Vennells) said today: ‘I am sincerely sorry on behalf of the Post Office for historical failings which seriously affected some postmasters’
‘We have secured what amounts to a clear admission from the Post Office that people were convicted of crimes on the basis of unsafe and unreliable evidence.’
Four years after losing her husband Julian to bowel cancer, and 12 years after he was convicted of false accounting by the Post Office, 65-year-old Karen Wilson has spoken of her determination to clear his name.
She said Julian was ‘meticulous’ in his running of the Post Office, which they bought in Astwood Bank, Worcestershire in 2001.
After a profitable first couple of years, he started experiencing troubles with the Horizon system.
When auditors finally arrived he was ‘delighted’ as he believed the issues would finally be resolved.
At the time the accounts had a shortfall in excess of £27,000, and Julian handed over nine years’ worth of accounts for the auditors to look through.
He was suspended and told his only option was to plead guilty to false accounting, as that would prevent him from going to prison.
The couple had to sell their Post Office to pay back the money which was alleged to have gone missing.
‘He was given 300 hours community service and he used to have to go out cleaning graveyards with other criminals.
‘It was heart-breaking seeing my husband, who had done nothing wrong, having to do that,’ said Karen.
‘He knew it was the system right from the start but nobody would listen. Nobody wanted to listen. I have been determined to see this through to clear his name and have his conviction overturned.’
Four years after losing her husband Julian to bowel cancer, and 12 years after he was convicted of false accounting by the Post Office, 65-year-old Karen Wilson (pictured together) has spoken of her determination to clear his name
Earlier this week, ministers launched a ‘review’, led by former High Court judge Sir Wyn Williams, to find out what happened.
But MPs and campaigners labelled it a ‘whitewash’ and a ‘betrayal’, and called for a full inquiry into the ‘biggest miscarriage of justice in UK history’.
They said Sir Wyn will not be able to compel witnesses to attend or be cross-examined.
He will also not investigate what the role of the Government, which owns the Post Office, was in the scandal.
Last month, it was revealed the hundreds of the scandal’s victims will be excluded from a new compensation scheme.
Hundreds of victims of the Post Office IT scandal will be excluded from a new compensation scheme.
Critics said it was unfair and worrying that the new scheme excludes Post Office workers in shops and 555 postmasters who won a High Court fight last year.
There are also concerns that postmasters will have to sign gagging clauses, known as non-disclosure agreements, to get their cash.
The Historical Shortfall Scheme closed to applicants in August as the Post Office tries to draw a line under the scandal dubbed the UK’s biggest miscarriage of justice.
Close to 2,200 victims put in claims, taking the total number of those who could have lost out to more than 2,755.
But the Post Office, wholly owned by the Government, says the postmasters in the High Court case are not eligible as they won a settlement of £58million.
However, most of this went to legal funders and lawyers’ fees.
Post Office workers in shops are also not eligible as their contract of employment was with companies such as McColl’s, WH Smith and the Co-op, not the central Post Office company.
Tory peer Lord Arbuthnot said: ‘This compensation scheme is designed to save the Post Office’s face rather than to give genuine compensation to those who really need and deserve it.’
The Post Office’s former boss last year finally apologised for the pain suffered by hundreds of postmasters accused of stealing money from the till.
Paula Vennells, 60, was chief executive when workers were jailed, made bankrupt or hounded out of their jobs after being called fraudsters.
She was branded ‘heartless and shameful’ for failing to apologise for leading the fight against staff over a botched IT system.
However, the Post Office eventually capitulated and handed 550 postmasters £58million in compensation in December.
Two weeks later, Mrs Vennells apologised. The comments came two days after the former boss, who is also an ordained priest, refused to apologise to a Mail reporter at her home in Bedfordshire.
Postmasters have previously called for Mrs Vennells, who ran the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, to return her CBE and some of the £2.2million she earned in bonuses.
She said: ‘I have, of course, been closely following the developments related to the Post Office legal action.
‘I am pleased that the long-standing issues related to the Horizon [computer] system have finally been resolved. It was and remains a source of great regret to me that these colleagues and their families were affected over so many years.
‘I am truly sorry we were unable to find both a solution and a resolution outside of litigation and for the distress this caused.’
It is the first time Mrs Vennells has spoken publicly about the scandal since she gave evidence to a committee of MPs in 2015.
But her comments fall short of admitting that the shortfalls in postmasters’ accounts were the result of glitches in the Horizon computer system.