- Post Office Horizon Scandal
- Government considers identity expungement
- Legal battles, convictions, investigations
The government is contemplating actions to expunge the identities of numerous sub-postmasters who were found guilty in the Post Office Horizon scandal.
On the basis of flawed software, over 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, larceny, and fraud.
A mere one hundred individuals have had their convictions overturned.
The prime minister says the government is evaluating all possibilities, including removing the Post Office’s appeals position.
The Post Office possessed the authority to initiate the initial legal proceedings, and the evidence was presented in court by its appointed attorneys. However, the Crown Prosecution Service and its own attorneys could intervene while further appeals are heard.
Many of the 1999-initiated scandal’s victims are still vying for full compensation or the overturning of their convictions, having been forced to pay thousands of pounds of their own money to cover shortfalls caused by Horizon accounting software.
Lee Castleton, a former postmaster who claimed the Post Office has destroyed his life, exclaimed, “I am extremely, extremely enraged.”
Government’s Post Office Accountability
The government-owned Post Office, which prosecuted its sub-postmasters, continues to assist them in their appeals.
It has, on occasion, opposed sub-postmasters’ efforts to clear their reputations.
When Laura Kuenssberg inquired whether Justice Secretary Alex Chalk was examining the possibility of exonerating all convicted individuals or dismantling the Post Office, Mr. Sunak responded: “While the legal complexities of those matters are undeniable, he is specifically examining the areas you have delineated.
We must do everything we can to help those who were mistreated.
All Post Office employees erroneously convicted of theft and false accounting were acquitted last month by a compensation commission.
In the appeals procedure, the Crown Prosecution Service could assume the Post Office’s responsibilities.
However, the chair of the Justice Select Committee, Sir Bob Neill, opined that such a course of action might necessitate additional resources and potentially impact ongoing cases.
He stated that that resolution must be reached independently by the Director of Public Prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson. “I have no doubt that they would examine it; each case must be evaluated on its own merits.” To accomplish that, I believe you would require additional resources.
Lastly, it should be noted that in order for the Court of Appeal to schedule time to hear these cases, the Ministry of Justice would have to grant permission for justices to be made available; this could result in the deferral of other pending cases.
Justice System Reforms and Investigations
Last month, the Ministry of Justice called for a streamlined and effective criminal appeals system. It also stated that it had asked the Law Commission to evaluate reforms and was awaiting its report.
Mr. Castleton described the battle for compensation and the appeals process as “traumatizing” experiences, characterizing the situation as a “war.”
He stated, “We’re just ordinary people,” adding that the situation should be removed from the “control of the individuals who truly caused it.”
He stated, “In a sense, I would love it to be taken from the hands of those who are essentially to blame.” “This is a human issue, not just a computer issue.”
“Recipients litigated against one another in court.” Individuals presumably made decisions based on flawed information they were aware was flawed.
A spokesperson for the Post Office stated, “We wholeheartedly support the objectives of the public inquiry, which are to ascertain the truth regarding past errors and to establish responsibility.” The investigator must draw its own conclusions after reviewing all relevant evidence.
The Metropolitan Police are investigating the Post Office for fraud related to the prosecutions.
Money seized from sub-postmasters through civil proceedings or prosecutions could be crimes.
The Metropolitan Police has initiated an inquiry into possible charges of perjury and obstructing the administration of justice pertaining to prosecutions and investigations conducted by the Post Office.
Two people have been interviewed under caution since January 2020, but no one has been arrested.
This week, in response to an ITV drama on the subject, fifty additional potential victims of the scandal came forward, prompting the Metropolitan Police to disclose its new investigation.
Between 1999 and 2015, over seven hundred and fifty sub-postmasters were prosecuted and convicted. The basis for these convictions was data from the Horizon accounting system, which created the appearance of money loss.
Certain sub-postmasters were unjustly incarcerated, while others are said to have been shunned by their communities due to convictions for larceny and false accounting, which left them bankrupt financially. Since then, some have passed away.
Only 27 of 93 overturned convictions have negotiated “full and final settlements” with the accused.
In 54 cases, convictions were affirmed, appeals were granted, or defendants withdrew, according to the Post Office.
Ongoing is a public investigation into the scandal.
A renewed sense of indignation and widespread sympathy has accompanied the airing of the four-part miniseries Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office: The Real Story on ITV this week.
The story follows actor Toby Jones’s sub-postmaster Alan Bates, who won a judicial battle that overturned dozens of convictions.
Lord Arbuthnot, who was a Member of Parliament for Jo Hamilton at the time of her erroneous conviction for false accounting, which was overturned in 2021, stated that “those responsible must face retribution.”
The ITV series centers around Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office. Lord Arbuthnot, on the other hand, stated, “There are so many individuals whose conduct was abhorrent that it is probably unwise to concentrate on a single individual.
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Currently, dozens of individuals have gotten away with things they ought not to have gotten away with. I am hopeful that this will change as a consequence of the public inquiry led by Sir Wyn Williams.
Dame Moya Greene succeeded him. In that time, the organization underwent a privatization process and was subsequently listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2013.
In its 2013 annual report, the company claimed that “additional assistance was provided for the purchase of a home.” This assistance was given in consideration of the housing cost differential between the United Kingdom and Canada.
Dame Moya repaid the £120,000 she got after taxes in response to Sir Vince Cable’s objections.
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