Postmistress set for payout
BE COMPENSATED AFTER LIVES ‘DESTROYED’
A FORMER Kirklees postmistress who was wrongly convicted of false accounting is among the 39 workers who could be in line for a big payout after their convictions were quashed.
Yorkshire MPs demanded that former sub-postmasters who had their lives “destroyed” by the Post Office are “swiftly and fairly” compensated for their ordeal.
MPs from across the House spoke on behalf of their constituents who found themselves wrongly convicted for theft, fraud and false accounting after they were blamed for defects in the Post Office’s IT system Horizon with some losing their jobs, homes and livelihoods amidst lengthy and costly legal proceedings.
On Friday 39 sub-postmasters had their convictions overturned at the Royal Courts of Justice in London - including Alison Hall, from Hightown near Liversedge.
Mrs Hall was convicted of false accounting when she was subpostmistress at Hightown, and went through “ten years of hell” before her conviction was overturned.
The Court of Appeal heard how the Post Office was aware the Fujitsu-developed IT system had “faults and bugs from the earliest days of its operation”.
In his judgment, Lord Justice Holroyde said Post Office Limited’s failures of investigation and disclosure were “so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the ‘Horizon cases’ an affront to the conscience of the court”.
Jason McCartney, the Conservative MP for Colne Valley, said his constituent Maria Lockwood was unable to attend the judgment in London because she could not afford the cost of travel.
He asked business minister Paul Scully: “What mechanism is going to be in place please to compensate these victims swiftly and fairly?”
Mr Scully said the Post Office needed to “engage with all of the appellants to make sure that they are compensated fairly”.
“And it’s that fair compensation that we will be pushing for as government
What mechanism is going to be in place to compensate these
victims swiftly?
to make sure that Post Offices act quickly.”
The minister also said he expects a government-commissioned inquiry led by ex-High Court judge Wyn Williams into Horizon to report to him by the summer, to “ensure this never happens again”.
But MPs have raised concerns that without the power to compel witnesses, the inquiry could amount to a whitewash.
Dame Diana Johnson, the Labour MP for Hull North whose constituent Janet Skinner was wrongly jailed, was one of a number of MPs to call for a full statutory inquiry.
“The Horizon scandal as we know has destroyed many people’s lives, including my constituent Janet Skinner,” she said.
“I believe the behaviour of the Post Office is best summed up by what the Right Reverend James Jones said in the Hillsborough inquiry about the ‘patronising disposition of unaccountable power, the denials and the cover up.’”
Mr Scully defended the government’s decision to hold a non-statutory inquiry, saying the average length of a statutory inquiry was three and a half years - “that’s a very long time”.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment on Friday led to the resignation of former Post Office boss Paula Vennells from the boards of Morrisons and Dunelm just days later.