Nearly 200 postmasters wronged in IT scandal fail to show for compensation

ALMOST 200 postmasters caught up in the Post Office IT scandal have not come forward to have their convictions overturned, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

Internal documents show that the Post Office is aware of “around 200” people who are either unreachable or have not responded to letters advising them that they may be able to have their cases reviewed.

It comes after MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said the scandal had created “inherent mistrust” among many of those who were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting between 2000 and 2012.

More than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were convicted after the Post Office blamed them for shortfalls that were the result of a faulty IT system. However, only 72 have had their convictions quashed. Of those, 66 have applied for interim compensation payments of £100,000.

In January, Nick Read, the company’s chief executive, told MPs that around 343 potential victims had not responded or were unreachable. The committee said that, in total, 576 potential victims had not begun the process of having their convictions overturned.

Mr Read accepted that “many individuals will want to put it behind them and not revisit it”, while Paul Scully, the business minister, said at the time, said: “This entire process, not just with the Post Office but with the Government and with everybody, because they have had 20 years of absolute hell. Why would they trust authority in general?”

After struggling to reach postmasters, the Post Office requested that the Criminal Cases Review, as an independent body, make contact with convicted individuals to urge people to come forward if they wish to consider appeal.

More recent figures suggest that about 200 people have not responded despite the start of a public inquiry and widespread publicity. An internal document seen by this newspaper said: “We understand that there are many people who would prefer to leave the past behind them, and that revisiting a painful part of their life is incredibly difficult and they may not want to respond to Post Office. But no unsafe conviction should be missed.

“The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the independent body that looks into potential wrongful convictions, has [agreed] to our proposal that they will contact people who have not yet responded to us or have said they want no further contact from Post Office. This is around 200 people.”

Some victims have not responded and others have been difficult to trace, possibly because they have moved abroad. At least 33 postmasters are known to have died while waiting for justice, meaning the Post Office has been contacting their families instead.

The Post Office said that it had “taken determined action to address miscarriages of justice”.