The injustice of the Horizon scandal
By Holly LynchMP (Labour, Halifax)
The injustice of the Horizon scandal has been blown wide open thanks to ITV’s recent drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office with the public outrage forcing ministers to finally respond to the scale and seriousness of the miscarriage of justice, unlike anything else in British history.
Here in Halifax I’ve been working with a local family who have their own harrowing tale of injustice. When a local sub-postmaster was unable to get the books to balance having had Horizon software installed in May 2000, he began reporting the discrepancies to the Post Office. He even requested that a CCTV camera be installed above the counter so that they could rule out theft.
With no support from the
Post Office he began paying the shortfalls out of his own pocket. By 2001 he was no longer able to keep paying the shortfalls himself. Born out of desperation he began moving money between the Department for Work and Pensions side of the business and into the Post Office side of the business, having to cash in DWP payments to cover the discrepancies. He described it as having to ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’.
This Halifax sub-postmaster was subsequently arrested on April 23, 2003 following an investigation by the DWP. In his interview with the police and the DWP he was not represented by a lawyer and had to endure a series of personal allegations which were put to him as motivations for having taken money, all of which were unfounded. Knowing that he had moved the money from the DWP, he felt he had no choice other than to plead guilty.
His first two court appearances were adjourned before he was remanded on bail for three months and his case referred to Bradford Crown Court. Proceedings were adjourned three more times dragging out his ordeal. However on March 31, 2004 he was given a one-year sentence comprising of six months in prison with the remaining six months to be served on licence. He was charged with 32 offences of theft and 33 offences of producing false documentation and was forced to pay £43,518.42. Money which he had not benefitted from, only using it to plug gaps in the faulty Horizon software, and informed that if he couldn’t find the money he would receive a 14-month prison sentence.
This local man and his family have had to live with the shadow of what happened for over 20 years. They were particularly distressed that his conviction for theft was front page news of this very paper at the time. It’s partly why they have asked me not to use his name.
For the first time the ITV drama means that there is widespread understanding about the injustice he and so many others have endured as a consequence of the Horizon system.
I was relieved this week when raising the case again in the House of Commons that the minister said that he would be very keen to work with me on the specifics of this case, confirming that it is his intention that anyone who suffered a conviction because of Horizon is properly compensated. I have written to the minister with the details of this case and I am hopeful that we can finally do the right thing and clear this local man’s good name.