Judges clear ex-Hipperholme subpostmaster
SEVEN MORE former subpostmasters who were wrongly convicted as a result of the Post Office Horizon scandal have been cleared by the Court of Appeal.
Three senior judges overturned the convictions of seven people who were convicted based on evidence from the faulty IT system used by the Post Office from 2000.
Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Picken and Mrs Justice Farbey, quashed the convictions of Pauline Stonehouse, Angela Sefton, Janine Powell, Anne Nield, Jamie Dixon, Marissa Finn and Gregory Harding.
The former Post Office workers had been accused of offences including theft and false accounting related to shortfalls of tens of thousands of pounds.
Their appeals were unopposed by the Post Office, which accepted that evidence about the reliability of the Fujitsu-developed system was “essential” to their convictions.
Mr Harding who ran the Hipperholme Post Office was handed a suspended 20 weeks prison sentence and 200 hours community service when convicted at Bradford Crown Court. He had faced charges of stealing more than £20,000 in 2010. He has now been exonerated.
The 61-year-old said “words can’t describe” how he felt after being cleared by the Court of Appeal.
“I feel a lot better now,” he said, adding he was “a lot happier”.
Kate O’Raghallaigh, for five of the people who brought unopposed appeals, said they showed the capacity of the Horizon system “to cause great injustice”.
Lord Justice Holroyde said: “We are satisfied that the decisions not to oppose the appeals in these seven cases are realistic and appropriate.”
The postmaster said “words can’t describe” how he felt after being cleared
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