Justice on the horizon for brave postmasters

BLACKSToNE’S principle of English law holds that it is better for ten guilty people to walk free than one innocent be jailed.

With those wise words in mind, Rishi Sunak was right to announce emergency legislation to exonerate hundreds of victims of the Post office scandal.

This has been the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history. The onus had to be on correcting it – and quickly.

It can be cliched to describe a frightening, disorientating situation as Kafkaesque.

Yet no word more perfectly sums up the horrendous ordeal suffered by those innocent sub-postmasters, wrongly convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system.

of course, a mass absolution runs a risk that some who genuinely fiddled the books could escape scot-free. And yes, there are concerns that Parliament overturning court rulings sets a troubling precedent.

But this is a truly exceptional case. of 900-plus wrongful convictions, only 93 have so far been quashed. The legal wheel turns at a glacial pace, so the Prime Minister is right to ensure the victims’ fight for justice and compensation does not drag on.

Any government scheme drawn up quickly, however, will have teething problems. With some justification, some ex-postmasters are unhappy with a one- off £ 75,000 payment. Does it really make amends for their lives being ruined? But we trust ministers will sort that out.

This, though, cannot be the end of the matter. Those responsible for hounding the sub-postmasters must be brought to book.

A string of Post office bosses presided over this debacle, yet were undeservedly rewarded. They must be held to account.

If the public inquiry finds Fujitsu responsible for causing so much human misery, it should contribute millions in compensation. And what does it say that the architect of Horizon has demanded immunity before he testifies at the inquiry?

Then there is Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, the coalition’s Post office minister, who was more bothered about shielding the Post office than investigating the claims of blameless sub-postmasters. When will he get comeuppance for his foul-ups?

until those responsible for this appalling scandal are finally held accountable, the victims will always be denied true justice.