Horizon scandal action is long overdue

With the fresh focus and publicity, we hope government will move much quicker to begin to make amends

It has taken an – admittedly excellent – ITV drama to thrust the ongoing Post Office Horizon scandal back into public consciousness and apply the urgency it deserves.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said Horizon was an “appalling miscarriage of justice”, and said the Justice Secretary was looking at the option of exonerating all postmasters wrongly convicted. Such an intervention by the state would be extraordinary, would likely require legislation, but would be no less than those whose lives have been destroyed and who continue to live with the impact, deserve.

“Everyone has been shocked by watching what they have done over the past few days,” Mr Sunak said yesterday.

He is right. It is shocking, but none of it is new or a surprise to governments in Westminster or Edinburgh.

In all, more than 700 Post Office branch managers – more than 70 in Scotland – were handed criminal convictions after the faulty Fujitsu accounting software made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.

So far, only 93 convictions relating to the scandal have been quashed. The UK Government said it had paid out £27 million across the 475 claimants in the original civil case, but only 11 people have received full and final settlements. A further ten have been accepted.

With the fresh focus and publicity this week, we hope government will move much quicker to begin to make amends, including speeding up compensation payments. We also trust moves to exonerate all those wrongly convicted will be followed swiftly north of the Border.

As former subpostmaster Lee Castleton, who was pursued through the courts and went bankrupt, summed up well yesterday: “This is not just a computer issue, this is a people issue.

“People took people to court.” The public inquiry into the Horizon will no doubt take some time. It is right that it scrutinises every aspect of this travesty. Action, however, can and should happen quicker.