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Post Office scandal victims convictions to be quashed

Getty Images People walking past a Post Office branchGetty Images

A new law will be introduced on Wednesday to clear the names of the hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal.

The legislation is expected to clear the majority of victims in England and Wales by the end of July.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it is "an important step forward in finally clearing" hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Those wrongly convicted will get an option to settle for £600,000, without the need to bring a formal claim.

There will also be "enhanced" financial redress for sub-postmasters who, while not convicted or part of legal action against the Post Office, made good the apparent losses caused by the Horizon system from their own pockets.

They will be entitled to a fixed sum of £75,000 through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, the government said.

Sub-postmasters who have already settled for less money will have their compensation topped up to this level, and people can instead choose to have their claims assessed as part of the usual scheme process, in which there is no limit to compensation.

The government said the new Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme will be open for applications "as soon as possible" for people who have had their convictions quashed.

The new scheme will be run by the Department for Business and Trade.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said ministers wanted wronged postmasters to receive redress "as quickly as possible".

Speaking in the Commons he said many sub-postmasters' lives had been ruined by the scandal.

"We have set up the Williams inquiry which will discover the truth, we will provide fair financial redress as promptly as we can, and we will exonerate those who were so unjustly convicted of crimes which they did not commit," he added.

Mr Hollinrake said he hoped the introduction of today's legislation was the "light at the end of the tunnel" for postmasters who had been fighting for justice for years.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted due to a faulty accounts software called Horizon, which showed errors that did not exist.

The proposed Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill will help people whose lives had been "callously torn apart", Mr Sunak said.

It is expected to come in to effect by the end of July and will apply to convictions in England and Wales. The law is expected to clear the majority of victims.

Under the law, the government said convictions will be automatically quashed if they:

  • Were prosecuted by the Post Office or Crown Prosecution Service;
  • Were for offences carried out in connection with Post Office business between 1996 and 2018;
  • Were for relevant offences such as theft, fraud and false accounting;
  • Were against sub-postmasters, their employees, officers, family members or direct employees of the Post Office working in a Post Office that used the Horizon system software.

The government previously said the possible exoneration of some genuinely guilty of crimes was "a price worth paying".

Scotland's Justice Secretary Angela Constance said it was "extremely disappointing" that the legislation would only apply in England and Wales. She has called for UK-wide legislation, but said the Scottish government would introduce its own if that doesn't happen. So far six former sub-postmasters in Scotland have had their convictions quashed individually through the courts.

But some of those affected say they are still to be convinced that progress will be made.

Lee Castleton, from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, was made bankrupt after he lost a two-year legal battle with the Post Office.

His case was featured in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, in which he was played by actor Will Mellor.

"It's another round in circles thing," he told BBC Radio 5Live, adding that he had yet to hear about any progress in his case.

"For 20 years this has gone on we've had all parties of all colours involved, we've got to a point now where no one wants to do anything."

Sally Stringer worked at the post office in Beckford, Worcestershire, for 20 years and was among hundreds accused of theft and false accounting.

"It will make a huge difference to be able to move on but they're still pontificating," she told 5Live. "We're all needing action now sooner rather than later. I don't want to wait for a general election, we need to get on with it."

Peter Collins
Peter Collins did not want his family to see what he had lived through

'Listening project'

Former sub-postmaster Peter Collins, who ran the post office in Grange Park, Blackpool, for 34 years before retiring in 2017, was told he owed £30,000.

He used his own money to make up the shortfall due to the faulty Horizon IT system, then had to borrow £19,000.

He was too embarrassed to tell his family and friends about it until ITV drama, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, was aired in January this year.

He told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme he had felt "guilty" and "couldn't find the shortages", but seeing the drama made him feel vindicated.

"It was like a lightbulb moment," he said. "Suddenly it wasn't our fault, it was the Horizon system."

He said welcomed the idea of having convictions automatically quashed.

However, he said had it not been for the ITV drama, and it being an election year this year, "most sub-postmasters would have waited for recompense, or to have their convictions quashed, for many years to come".

He said about 200 sub-postmasters who have died will "never see justice", he said.

In his own case, Mr Collins wants "full redress, that the shortfall is made good, compensation, [and] compound interest".

His application has gone into the shortfall scheme.

He said of the new £75,000 scheme that many sub-postmasters will be owed more than £75,000, and "how long will they have to wait?"

Solicitor Neil Hudgell, whose firm represents more than 100 sub-postmasters whose convictions have yet to be set aside, said for them the "day cannot come soon enough" when they are exonerated.

In addition to the new law, a long running inquiry in to the scandal will launch a "listening project" to get the stories of people who were hit by the scandal.

The project, called "In Your Own Words", wants to hear from "current or former sub-postmasters, family members, friends, community members, or other members of the public who may have reflections to share".

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