Rishi Sunak confirms government is developing plan to help Post Office workers clear their names in Horizon scandal
7 January 2024, 10:26 | Updated: 7 January 2024, 11:38
Hundreds of sub-postmasters could be helped in their bid for exoneration in the Horizon IT scandal as Rishi Sunak confirmed a government probe into how they can be helped.
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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.
Rishi Sunak confirmed on Sunday that justice secretary Alex Chalk is trying to find a way to speed up that process - potentially by removing the Post Office from the appeals process.
"It wouldn't be right to pre-empt that process, obviously there's legal complexity in all of those things," Mr Sunak said.
"It's right we find every which way we can do to try and make this right for these people who were wrongfully treated at the time.
"Compensation is a part of that but there may be legal things that may be possible as well, and that's what the justice secretary is looking at."
The Post Office 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 being considered by Mr Chalk.
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.
Christopher Head, a former sub-postmaster in West Boldon who was investigated for six months and threatened with civil proceedings, told LBC: "In reality they are re-litigating every single claim that comes forward.
"They want you to go through this legal process and they are pushing back on absolutely everything that you’re putting forward.
"So they're saying one thing, but the reality on the ground is something completely different."
Sub-postmasters have revisited their pain since the drama aired.
Tim Brentnall, who was a sub-postmaster in Pembrokeshire, said the pressure during their prosecution was so intense they started to even doubt themselves. He was wrongly pursued for accounting losses.
"When I tried to maintain my innocence afterwards, lots of people would say something must've happened because you pled guilty to it," he told LBC.
"'If I was accused of something like that', they'd say, 'I'd never plead guilty to something I hadn't done.'
"It was purely firefighting, and a fear of a custodial sentence that led us down the path to plead guilty.
"When barristers sit you down and explain to you you're going up in Crown Court, against the Crown, the Post Office, the Queen, you've got really no way of defending or explaining yourself, they say a jury will more than likely find you guilty.
"So if you don't want to go to prison, the best plan to approach this is to plead guilty."
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.
Janet Skinner, a former postmistress who was falsely accused of stealing nearly £60,000 from her Post Office in Hull - before her conviction was repealed in 2021 - said of Ms Vennells' CBE: That's supposed to be in recognition for doing good. She's far from doing good."
She told LBC's David Lammy: "A lot of prosecutions didn't happen on her watch, but it clearly states in [a] 2015 select committee hearing she was the CEO and the buck stops with her.
"At that time, they were aware of the issues with Horizon. She could've put a stop to that, but she didn't."
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".
