Hundreds of Post Office workers 'could get appeals overturned quicker' under new plans to tackle Horizon scandal
7 January 2024, 08:27 | Updated: 7 January 2024, 10:15
Hundreds of sub-postmasters could be helped in their bid for exoneration in the Horizon IT scandal under plans to remove the Post Office from the appeals process.
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Outrage at the affair has built since ITV began airing its drama series Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of fraud or theft between 1999 and 2015 after a computing error within Fujitsu's Horizon IT system, with some even being convicted and sent to prison.
It has been called the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history.
A campaign has been running for years to clear their names.
Now, Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, is considering how the victims can get their names cleared quicker - with the Post Office having often hindered the process of appeals.
It has tried to oppose a number of attempts at exoneration in recent years.
A plan to remove the Post Office from its role in the appeals is one option.
This could see the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) take over, making it easier to get those convictions cleared.
The Sunday Times was told Mr Chalk has concerns about arms-length bodies using private prosecutions.
He is also worried about the low rate of successful appeals by sub-postmasters.
But there are fears that with the CPS being independent of government he could not order it to wade in, and dozens of appeals would still remain in the hands of prosecutors even if the CPS took over.
That makes it less likely a blanket quashing of convictions would happen, despite growing public anger and calls from MPs and campaigners.
Mr Chalk will discuss options with the minister responsible for post, Kevin Hollinrake, in the coming days.
Meanwhile, a petition calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to be stripped of her CBE has garnered half a million signatures within days of launching.
Ms Vennells oversaw the Post Office as it denied there were any problems with the system, which made it appear that money was missing and let to a spate of wrongful convictions.
Alan Bates - the hero of the ITV series, played by Toby Jones - was offered an OBE but turned it down because Ms Vennells retains her honour.
Metropolitan Police detectives are also looking at "potential fraud offences" committed during the scandal.
It said potential examples included "monies recovered from sub-postmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions".
"The Met is investigating potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice," the force said in the statement.
There are also questions for politicians who were asked to deal with the scandal, including Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.
He wrote to Mr Bates in 2010, when he was a minister in the coalition government, responsible for postal affairs, to tell him that the Post Office had full confidence in Horizon.
Sir Ed's spokesperson said he "bitterly regrets that the Post Office was not honest with him".
