CPS refuses to reveal Starmer’s role in 27 wrongful prosecutions of subpostmasters
THE Crown Prosecution Service is refusing to reveal Sir Keir Starmer’s role in the wrongful prosecution of subpostmasters after admitting it took at least 27 victims to court.
The CPS said it was combing through historic files and had found at least 27 prosecutions it had brought over issues linked to the Horizon IT computer system. The defective IT system is blamed for hundreds of subpostmasters being wrongly convicted.
The CPS said that once its trawl had been completed it expected to find about 50 cases in which it had launched prosecutions. More than 700 cases – the vast majority – were brought by the Post Office in private prosecutions.
But the CPS declined to say precisely when cases were taken to court, insisting it was looking at a time frame of 20 years between 2001 and 2020.
Sir Keir, the Labour Party leader, was head of the CPS between 2008 and 2013 as Director of Public Prosecutions. The CPS refused to reveal if the cases took place between the dates Sir Keir was in charge of the organisation.
A CPS spokesman said: “The vast majority of these cases were private prosecutions brought by the Post Office. We’ve worked extensively and identified a small number of CPS cases which involved evidence connected to Horizon. In these cases, we have written to those defendants to disclose information so they could pursue an appeal.”
The CPS said the cases were taken on in “good faith”. The Daily Telegraph has been told the CPS has identified 27 cases it brought although the final number is likely to be 50. Brendan Clarke-smith, a Tory MP and former minister, said: “Sir Keir Starmer and the CPS need to urgently clarify whether any of these happened under his watch and if so, why.”
A Conservative Party added: “The CPS have somehow avoided scrutiny over this scandal because the bulk of the prosecutions were private, but the failures of successive DPPS to use their powers to put a stop to this must be looked into by the inquiry.”
Sir Keir’s spokesman declined to comment last night. They have let it be known that only a fraction of cases come across the DPP’S desk at any one time and that Post Office cases would have appeared – in isolation – relatively minor. Sir Keir has called for the Post office to be stripped of its powers to bring private prosecutions.