Victims of Post Office cleared by year’ s end?

Hundreds of Post Office branch managers who were wrongly convicted in the Horizon IT scandal could have their names cleared by the end of the year.

Blanket legislation to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales will be introduced within weeks, with Scotland also indicating it will follow suit.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday said they were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.

Hundreds of subpostmasters were convicted of swindling money on the basis of evidence from the flawed Horizon accounting system, with MPs told the Post Office showed “not only incompetence but malevolence” in the way it acted against them.

The scale of the scandal has prompted the government to adopt the unconventional approach of new legislation.

Ministers acknowledged the plan could result in some sub-postmasters who did commit crimes being wrongly cleared, but insisted the process was the most effective way of dealing with the vast majority who were victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Downing Street said the “ambition” was for the plan to be implemented by the end of the year.

At prime minister’s questions yesterday, Mr Sunak said: “This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history. People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.”

Those whose convictions are quashed are eligible for a £600,000 compensation payment, or potentially more if they go through a process of having their claim individually assessed.

Mr Sunak also announced a £75,000 offer for subpostmasters involved in a group legal action against the Post Office – with ministers setting aside up to £1 billion for compensation.

Post Office Minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs that just 95 out of more than 900 convictions have been overturned.

The usual method for overturning a conviction would see the Criminal Cases Review Commission sending it to the Court of Appeal for a hearing.

But the unprecedented scale of the Horizon scandal means the government is introducing the legislation route rather than relying on a potentially lengthy court process.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has been discussing the situation with senior judges because of the constitutional concern about Parliament being seen to interfere with the legal system.

The Horizon software started to be rolled out in Post Office branches across the UK in 1999 and over the subsequent years a series of sub-postmasters were prosecuted over missing funds.

In 2019 the High Court ruled that Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.

The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after ITV broadcast the drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which highlighted the scandal earlier this month.

Alan Bates, the campaigning former subpostmaster the series centred on, welcomed the “good news” but said the fight is not over for many of those still awaiting compensation.

“It is a leap forward, but it ain’t over yet,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme.

“The devil is in the detail and we’re yet to see that.”

Mr Hollinrake acknowledged the government’s plan would result in some people who actually did commit crimes having their convictions quashed and being able to claim compensation.

JUSTICE: The government is turning to new legislation to compensate victims of the Post Office scandal.

Rishi Sunak told prime minister’s questions yesterday it was one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the UK.

Toby Jones as Alan Bates and Julie Hesmondhalgh as his wife Suzanne with fellow cast members in the drama.