Full payouts for postmasters short-changed in IT scandal

A GROUP of wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters are finally set to receive full compensation.

Five victims had been offered lower sums because the Post Office did not believe evidence about faulty Horizon software was essential in their prosecutions.

However, Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office Minister, has now agreed that they should have equal treatment.

Parmod Kalia, one member of the group, hid his prison sentence from his elderly mother out of shame. He spent £22,000 of his own money attempting to balance the accounts of his Orpington branch, but was ultimately still prosecuted by the Post Office.

Although Mr Kalia pleaded guilty to one count of theft – in the hope that he would receive a more lenient sentence – a judge sentenced him to six months in prison in 2001. Yet when his conviction was quashed in 2021, the Post Office did not oppose his appeal on the grounds that it wasn’t in the public interest to pursue a retrial.

However, the Post Office said that if there had been a retrial, there was a reasonable prospect of conviction and so he was not owed full compensation for malicious prosecution.

He and four other victims known as “public interest” cases have been told they will be treated the same as other wrongfully convicted victims. Mr Kalia told the BBC it was “about time” such a decision was made. “It was Horizon that showed the discrepancy, and based on that, our cases are Horizon-related,” he told the broadcaster.

Prof Chris Hodges, chair of the Independent Horizon Compensation Advisory Board (IHCAB), said the board had raised the issue. He added: “This did not seem fair or just to us. We are delighted for these individuals that it has now been clarified that they will be entitled to the same level of compensation as others whose convictions were overturned.”

More than 100 Horizon victims have had their convictions overturned so far.

Mr Hollinrake said: “All affected postmasters should be treated equally and anyone who lost out owing to the Post Office IT scandal will receive full and fair compensation.

“That’s why I’ve agreed that the five postmasters who were previously not, are now eligible for compensation including the £600,000 offer if they wish to take that.”