Horizon law will not cover claims from other victims

Alleged victims of a second faulty computer system at the Post Office have been left “saddened and frustrated’ after it was confirmed they are excluded from legislation to exonerate wrongful convictions.

Around 700 former sub-postmasters are expected to have their convictions for offences such as theft and false accounting overturned by a law introduced in Parliament yesterday.

The Post Office minister, Kevin Hollinrake, said the unprecedented move was required to rectify the largest miscarriage of justice in UK history, in which sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for shortfalls caused by the Horizon computer system. Mr Hollinrake (inset) told the Commons yesterday that he hoped the new law would receive Royal Assent by this summer, with sub-postmasters’ convictions overturned “on the day”.

However, the criteria make clear that only sub-postmasters in England and Wales who were using Horizon at the time of their alleged offences would have their convictions cleared.

The Government said it remained “in discussions” with the Post Office as to how to deal with cases related to the Capture IT system, which was rolled out in the early 1990s.

But a spokesman said: “Currently, we have no plans to overturn these cases via this bill as there is no evidence to conclude that there is a widespread miscarriage of justice solely linked to Capture.”

Horizon victims who have their convictions overturned can receive an interim compensation payment of £75,000 immediately, and accept £600,000 as a full and final settlement, if they believe this is sufficient to cover their losses.

Steve Marston, 68, was using Capture when he suffered unexplained shortfalls of around £79,000.

He insists he “never stole a penny” from his branch in Heap Bridge, Greater Manchester, but felt pressured into pleading guilty in 1998 in order to avoid a prison sentence – a tactic the Post Office has admitted was widely used by investigators to secure convictions.

“What happened with Capture postmasters and Horizon postmasters is 100 per cent identical,” said Mr Marston. “I really don’t see why we are being differentiated.

“I’m delighted for Horizon victims, I’m really happy for them, but I feel gutted that we’re not included.”

There are believed to be at least 20 postmasters to have come forward to claim they suffered shortfalls due to Capture since i first revealed the second scandal in January. The Post Office says it is aware of four that involve criminal convictions so far.

i understands the Government has expressed a preference for Capture cases to be put forward to the Court of Appeal in a single cohort.

This was the mechanism used to overturn the first Horizon conviction in 2021.