Landmark win for postmasters in legal battle

DozenswronglyconvictedinITscandal

A FORMER subpostmaster from Yorkshire, wrongly convicted of false accounting along with dozens of other subpostmasters, says campaigners will battle on even though the Post Office said it will not oppose appeals by himself and others.

Chris Trousdale, 38, from Whitby, was one of the country’s youngest subpostmasters when he was prosecuted by the Post Office 18 years ago and advised to plead guilty or face jail.

Subpostmasters were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting after the Horizon IT system was introduced in Post Office branches in 1999.

Mr Trousdale said the campaign would continue until those responsible for the Horizon accounting scandal were held to account.

Hull- based Hudgell Solicitors, which represents 33 clients including Mr Trousdale, said the Post Office’s announcement over the 44 it originally prosecuted was a “landmark moment” and the convictions will now be quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Mr Trousdale now works for the family firm and said it had been “torture”. It was too early to celebrate, he said, as there were three cases which were still potentially being contested.

He said: “Through all of this I have tried not to be a victim and tried my best to be a survivor and show as much help to others to

repay the help I was given in the early years. You never have any doubt because truth will prevail – it is just the time it has taken. I am lucky that I have got a fantastic family and community where

I live, there are people in a lot worse positions.”

In his case, an internal Post Office email came to light which revealed investigators had found “no evidence of theft” nor had the amount of the “theft” ever been quantified.

Mr Trousdale, a member of campaign group Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, said they were still pushing for a judge- led inquiry, which can compel witnesses to give evidence, allow cross examination and compel the production of evidence.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Board, he said, was looking at sending 74 more convictions to appeal. “There could be as many as 900 other unsafe convictions that relied on Horizon data, that the Post Office are now looking at,” he added. “There is still a long way to go. Nobody has been properly held to account.” And he said it was astonishing that the taxpayer- owned Post Office had spent “hundreds of millions” over the years “defending the indefensible”.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell said: “For the Post Office to concede defeat is a landmark moment, not only for these individuals but, in time, potentially hundreds of others. We are delighted for the people we represent. Clearing their names has been their driving goal from day one, as their reputations and livelihoods were so unfairly destroyed. We have secured what amounts to a clear admission that people were convicted of crimes on the basis of unsafe and unreliable evidence.”

You never have any doubt because truth will prevail. Chris Trousdale, former subpostmaster