Subpostmasters’ joy and relief as names cleared

FORMER subpostmasters who were wrongly convicted as a result of the Post Office Horizon scandal have spoken of their relief and joy after finally being cleared of any wrongdoing.

But they said they remain angry about the suffering they have endured at the hands of the Post Office, and called for senior figures in the organisation to face justice.

Yesterday three senior judges overturned the convictions of 12 people who were convicted based on evidence from the faulty IT system used by the Post Office from 2000.

It comes after 39 former subpostmasters who were convicted and even jailed for theft, fraud and false accounting had their names cleared in April – some after fighting for nearly 20 years.

Lord Justice Holroyde and two other judges quashed the convictions of Robert Ambrose, Hasmukh Shingadia, John Armstrong, Tim Brentnall, Jerry Hosi, Gurdeep Singh Dhale, John Dickson, Abiodun Omotoso, Malcolm Watkins, Sami Sabet, Carina Price and Rizwan Manjra at the Court of Appeal yesterday.

Speaking outside court after being cleared, Mr Brentnall, 39, of Roch, Pembrokeshire, said: “I’m up in the clouds, amazing. I still have this burning anger at the Post Office inside me but at the moment we’re up at the top.”

He added: “No amount (of compensation) will redress the emotional... and the years that I’ve lost.

“But the people that knew about this, and the people that have covered it up and tried to – in our civil claim – tried to run us out of money in the courts, they need to be held to account.

“They need to be fearful of being brought before a public inquiry or a court to answer for the way that they’ve behaved.”

Mr Shingadia, whose case hit the headlines after he was convicted just months after being a guest at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, said: “It’s just a wonderful day. July 19, freedom day in more ways than one.”

He added that he hoped the forthcoming public inquiry would mean those responsible for the scandal “face the consequences with the outcome of the inquiry, but first at the moment is just to relax and go back to our families”.

Their appeals were unopposed by the Post Office, and the judge said the court would give full reasons in writing at a later date, but that they should be cleared as soon as possible in the circumstances.

At a hearing in March, the court heard subpostmasters’ lives were “irreparably ruined” as they lost their jobs, homes and marriages after they were prosecuted by the Post Office, which knew the Fujitsu-developed system had “faults and bugs from the earliest days of its operation”.

Hundreds of people who ran Post Office branches were convicted of various offences during the period of time the system was being used.

The court also considered appeals brought by a further 19 subpostmasters yesterday, and gave directions as to how their cases should progress, with a further hearing not expected before November.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, who represented the 12 cleared yesterday as well as 33 former subpostmasters who have cleared their names so far, said: “Today is another step forward in terms of maintaining the momentum and ensuring we continue to contest every unsafe conviction as a result of the Post Office using its faulty Horizon computer system to pursue prosecutions against decent, honest, law-abiding people.”