The Post Office Wrongful Convictions Scandal

Hundreds of ‘lives ruined’ by Post Office scandal, inquiry hears 

Executives said to have known IT system was faulty but still used evidence from it as basis for prosecutions

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The High Court ruling declared that the Post Office’s computer system, called Horizon,

was defective and had caused accounting discrepancies 

and false accusations of fraud against sub-postmasters.


The court also found that the Post Office had failed

to investigate these issues properly, and

had unfairly blamed the sub-postmasters for the errors.

1 Trouble at Post Office – Panorama – 17th August 2015

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17th August 2015
 
Part 1 – the second part, following the outcome of the trials, was due to air on March 23 2020 but was replaced by a Covid 19 programme. Will be shown later this year.

2 Panorama : Scandal at the Post Office BBC Documentary 2020

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12 jun. 2020

Hundreds of postmasters were jailed or financially ruined after a computer system said money was missing from their branches. Now the Post Office has admitted that its Horizon computer system can make mistakes. But when did senior managers find this out, and did they continue to prosecute postmasters for stealing when they knew technology could be to blame? Reporter Nick Wallis investigates what could be Britain’s biggest ever miscarriage of justice scandal and uncovers evidence of a cover-up at the Post Office.
 
 

3 *The Great Post Office Scandal and Cover Up Part 1

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5 jul. 2020

These are stories from hard working Post Office post masters and post mistresses and all the hardship that they have had to endure and some have taken the ultimate sacrifice justice will done. // also many thanks to Nick Wallace and his team for the involvement and great details etc/5-07-2020.

The Post Office wrongful convictions scandal is a case in which the UK Post Office wrongly accused and convicted numerous sub-postmasters of theft, fraud, and false accounting. Here are some of the key points of the scandal:

  1. The Post Office accused sub-postmasters of theft and fraud based on discrepancies in their accounts, which were often caused by software errors in the Post Office’s computer system.

  2. Sub-postmasters who were accused and convicted of theft and fraud were often forced to pay back the allegedly missing funds, leading to financial ruin for many of them.

  3. The Post Office pursued legal action against sub-postmasters even when it knew that the discrepancies were caused by software errors.

  4. Many of the sub-postmasters who were wrongfully convicted lost their jobs and were unable to find work in the industry again due to their criminal records.

  5. The scandal was exposed in 2019 when a group of sub-postmasters won a High Court case against the Post Office, which ruled that the computer system was flawed and that the Post Office had acted unfairly.

  6. As a result of the scandal, the Post Office agreed to pay £57.75 million in compensation to more than 2,000 sub-postmasters who were affected by the wrongful convictions.

  7. The scandal has been described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, and has led to calls for greater accountability and transparency in the Post Office’s operations.

4 *The Great Post Office Scandal and Cover up part 2.

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5 jul. 2020

This is the largest ‘POST OFFICE’ scandal and cover up done to our hard working sub post masters and sub post office mistress in the UNITED KINGDOM what do you think!! by the FUJITSU..Horizon System from 1999 – ? This requires a full Judge to take place…Sooner the Better to all concerned S – A – P ….
 
John Falls
Hi I am fascinated by this story and I am very sorry for those who ended up in jail for no good reason. Having viewed a number of Youtube videos on this subject I am still very confused by how the Horizon system lead to these people been imprisoned. It would be nice if someone could elaborate on the “bugs” in the Horizon system which caused the issues. Were they actual system glitches ? And were the computer programmers at Fujitsu able to correct the software errors? Or were they Operational/Procedural/Training issue? Also I am curious how the postmasters who DID NOT encounter these problems on the Horizon system managed to avoid them? It would be interesting to hear from some of the postmasters who did not have problems with the system. Perhaps they found ways to avoid the various quirks with the system

5 Post Office Scandal | Two Decades | Trailer

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5 jul. 2021

We’ve been so proud to represent them – and now to help them share their stories. Two Decades: A Fight For Justice’ details the full impact of the Post Office Horizon Scandal. Film launch – 08.07.21
 
Mary Wilson
This happened to us it’s the most frightening thing ever, i lost my marriage and my sons thanks to the post office
Suki Paul
the only winners in this big injustice are the lawyers who will milk and drain the compensation owed to the postmasters with their fat fees

6 Post Office Scandal || The Truman Show || SpeakEasy 21 Feb 2022

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21 feb. 2022

On this week’s SpeakEasy, Glen, Paul & Nate discuss the recent Post Office scandal which has affected over 700 postmasters and postmistresses in the last 20 years. They also take a look at the Jim Carrey movie, The Truman Show.
 
For more on the Post Office Scandal:
 
 

7 Two Decades – The Fight For Justice

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8 jul. 2021

Two Decades: The Fight For Justice chronicles the moving personal experiences of subpostmasters battling the biggest miscarriage of justice the UK has ever seen.
 
The film tells the story of the Post Office scandal through the eyes of the victims fighting to overturn their wrongful convictions, and features interviews with several postmasters along with those who broke the story and worked towards delivering justice.
 
Patricia Edney
An excellent piece of journalism. It is outrageous that it took 2 decades to clear the names of these people, and so very sad that justice came too late for some.
europhile26
very good film, very emotional
Richard P
There MUST be a public enquiry into this. It is absolutely shocking
Jim Foster
And no person in the Post Office has taken any responsibility for this.
Kevin Carter
Brilliant piece should be on national Tv
Oblivion8
Well done Neil for supporting these people who for so long was punished for crimes they simply DID NOT commit! So much ignorance from the post office service and our so called government past and present…So many tears so much heartache and even lost ones who were involved…An utter mess of innocent people’s lives….PLEASE dont give Karl Tuner any publicity as we ALL know what he told someone to say…He should be thrown before a jury…Once again well done Neil and co and the producers of this film…5 stars…

8 Post Office scandal: Man wrongly convicted of stealing died before court cleared his name | ITV News

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24 nov. 2021

More than a decade since her family’s life was torn apart, Marion Holmes is still angry.
 
“I will never forgive the Post Office and I will never forget,” she says. “They ruined our lives.” 
 
Marion’s husband Peter was a victim of what has been called Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice. 
 
He was a Post Office manager wrongly convicted of stealing £46,000 from his own branch. The former police officer’s reputation and health were broken. 
 

9 Post office scandal: Varchas Patel joins Gloria De Piero to discuss how his family were impacted

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14 feb. 2022

Watch on TV: Freeview 236, Sky 515, Virgin 626 Listen on DAB+ Radio
 
gigi v
this is what you get when you trust technology…shame that they have had to wait so long
Pauline Ashcroft
I have followed this scandal for years and it is truly heart breaking. I hope these Post Office workers get properly compensated, money alone cannot begin to make reparation for the injustices they have suffered, but may make their lives more comfortable going forward and those in the organisation that allegedly knew about the glitches in the Horizon system and kept quiet should face the kinds of punishment they were happy to mete out to those innocent workers. Truly shocking and shameful.
Carol Morgan
What a surprise. Corruption.
Eleanor Crawford
Diabolical that this is just being reported on. All those post masters that were wrongly accused were brushed under the carpet. We all lost our once loved post offices which was a great loss to many communities and very sad to hear the effect it’s had on this family this is again another example of our broken justice system a criminal can be compensated for being asked to empty his urine yet these people can’t for being falsely accused. Our Justice system is well and truly broken.
Songs Coops
Unions gone quiet on this one..
Richard P
This is horrendous. There MUST be consequences for those who were responsible for this.
Me You
So he paid the money he had allegedly taken? So he was guilty then! Why pay for something you didn’t do? Now comes the victim card! Boo hoo That house clearly screams living day by day! 🤦‍♂
Will A
Welcome to the world of AI and big data.. this is just the beginning unfortunately
Michael Athanasiou
The post master saga is Not the worst injustice ( your kidding) the worst injustice was the waspi women ( purely because there are thousands and thousands of them)
1738 Creations
Does anyone want to tell us what the flaw was. No outlet is reporting it. Doesn’t Seem likely at all since the system came from Japan and having worked with Japanese programmers they are very maticulous with details compared to garbage Western devs. More like user error and they’re blaming on Fujitsu. Just because people can type on a keyboard doesn’t mean they know how to use a computer.
BLISSFUL SERVANT
This cannot be the worst injustice in British history, look at slavery, look at Windrush with slavery being the worst.

10 Post Office Scandal: 44 postmaster convictions set to be quashed 20 years later | 5 News

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2 okt. 2020

 

► Dozens of former sub-postmasters and postmistresses should get a clear path to have their convictions for false accounting, fraud and theft quashed. 

47 postmasters were convicted 20 years ago of theft after a faulty IT system was installed, resulting in many being sacked and some imprisoned.

Elgun
I saw this story years ago. It is a disgrace that the PO have allowed this to happen. Ruining so many lives.
Maureen Greenin
I hope all those wrongly prosecuted will be given compensation from the Post Office, commensurate to the financial position they would have been in by 2021. Many have lost their homes etc and through the incompetence of those in charge of the Post Office, can never replace their losses without making the Post Office pay for the nightmare they put them through. Perhaps they should also take away the various awards/titles given to those who made capital by their reprehensible conduct. It always seems those in charge and responsible for what went wrong walk away with a golden handshake and a slap on the back for a job supposedly well done, when in fact it was a complete disaster.
Simon Morgan
No evidence yet still found guilty wtf!
Martin Tunnicliffe
All this tosh about “historical failings” suggests that those responsible for this are long dead. They are not. They need to be identified and made to pay for what they did.
richard stone
So a pregnant, law abiding, hard working , intelligent citizen was sent to prison because of a computer error . Be afraid, be very afraid.
raver
BOYCOTT THE POST OFFICE. sue the individual and place in prison.
To Forget is A gem
There is a conflict if interest between trade bodies that are funded via the Government and the workers that they represent. I would like to see an inquiry into trade bodies. I strongly suspect that the Royal College of Nursing operates in this way. I do not know whether or not they are government funded but they act in a very similar way to uphold the status quo between the workers and employer, with a huge bias towards the NHS and government.
BLISSFUL SERVANT
So how did the jury find her guilty if there is no evidence against her. Was the verdict then racially motivated.
Kiron Manuel
This is worse than the Lockerbie and the Falklands war.Now the queen has to pay till her jewels are sold.

11 The Post Office Scandal

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17 jun. 2020

The extraordinary story of a decade-long battle with the Post Office, fought by their own Sub Postmasters. Some call it the widest miscarriage of justice in UK legal history.
The Post Office says it is ”assisting the Criminal Cases Review Commission to the fullest extent” with inquiries into cases of postmasters convicted of theft and fraud.
 
 

12 Short debate about the Post Office scandal in the House of Lords

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5 feb. 2020

Lord Arbuthnot, the former MP for North East Hampshire, asks a question about the Post Office’s ability to prosecute its own Subpostmasters. The peers present widen out the debate to demand compensation and a full inquiry. 2.30pm Tuesday 4 Feb 2020
 
Martin Tunnicliffe
There’s a strong suggestion now that the Post Office and Fujitsu knew about the problems and covered up the truth – despite what they knew it was doing to innocent lives. If this is true, those responsible need to be prosecuted and imprisoned.
RDRGV350
One of the most disgusting cases of corporate corruption I’ve ever seen. My heart goes out to all those falsely accused by the Post Office of theft and their families. When will we see Paula Vennells in court?
Longstreet 01
This would have been much better if it were captioned as to who each speaker was and their role or interest in the subject made apparent.
Peter Bennett
Criminal action needs to commence against Paula Vennells. If she is found guilt a proceeds of crime order should be made to recover all payments she received at the PO.These should then be used to help people and families affected by her coverup.
ringo pattison
some people have experienced, “unfortunate situations”, wtf they lost their homes, went to jail and had their lives ruined, i think this arse hole needs to experience a few unfortunate situations himself.
mikeydiablo
Shame on Paula Vennells
Kiron Manuel
Fujitsu and Horizon are at fault.
Andy Hay.
It was Royal mail back then. The Royals would have signed the prosecutions off.

13 Post Office scandal: Why were postmasters prosecuted?

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23 apr. 2021

Sky’s Ali Fortescue meets the postmasters who were wrongly convicted after the Post Office prosecuted them for theft.
 
It’s one of the UK’s worst miscarriages or justice.
 
 

14 Former postmasters cleared after Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice

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23 apr. 2021

They protested their innocence. But the computer said no. And the Post Office pursued them until they lost homes, livelihoods and in some cases, their liberty. Today the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of 39 former sub-postmasters, the largest miscarriage of justice in British history.
When the new Horizon computer system started throwing out numbers that indicated a shortfall in local post office accounts, the Post Office went after the sub-postmasters rather than the expensive but faulty software. The court declared the prosecutions “an affront to the conscience of the court” and Post Office management apologised for the “deep pain” caused. But will anyone be held to account?
 
 
 

15 Justice for Sub-postmasters in the Post Office case


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10 jun. 2021

This event brings to you an account of the justice secured for the maligned Post Office sub-postmasters by a number of the barristers who acted in the case. Although the wrongfulness of their prosecutions is now exposed, there remain lessons to be learnt not only for the justice system, but for legal professionals, and commentators and practitioners in corporate ethics, governance and control. The Centre for Ethics and Law has assembled a panel of expert discussants to comment on what is achieved and the lessons that need to be learnt more broadly.
 

Our Panel comprises the following speakers::
– Paul Marshall, Cornerstone Barristers
– Flora Page, 23 Essex Chambers
– Nick Gould, Aria Grace Law
– Dineshi Ramesh, Board Intelligence
– Anthony Edwards, retired solicitor
– Jonathan Rogers, University of Cambridge
– Richard Moorhead, University of Exeter
– Alan Brener, Centre for Ethics and Law, UCL

– Ian Henderson, Second Sight

16 Wrongly jailed at 19 years old in Post Office scandal | Janet Skinner & Tracy Felstead

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15 feb. 2022

These two women were wrongfully convicted and sent to prison because of a flawed Post Office computer system.
 
Former postmaster Janet Skinner spent nine months in prison, and Tracy Felstead spent six months in a young offenders institution. 
 
This is their story of trauma and injustice. 
 Times Radio brings you the latest breaking news, expert analysis and well-informed discussion on the biggest stories of the day, delivered with warmth, expertise and balance.
 
We are the UK’s newest digital news radio station, bringing together the peerless journalistic expertise of The Times and The Sunday Times with the world-class speech radio and podcasting experience of Wireless.
 
Douglas Lees
Very sorry to see this. I truly hope they will be at least heavily compensated for the 15 years of damage and trauma. And the apology was really the icing on the cake.
Sexton Blake
This is remarkably simple. So simple that even journalists could figure it out. You cannot have a shortage unless more things were sold than there was money in the til for. SO, did anyone check if the system was recording more things sold than actually existed in the first place. Start withcar tax discs as high value items. There you are. Go and figure it out BBC and don’t let go until you have a proper answer.
Tom F
Royal mail!! We’ve had post, including parcels, go missing for over two years now. Abolish them 😡
 

17 EXPLAINED: The Post Office Wrongful Convictions Scandal | Nick Wallis


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           IMPORTANT CONTENT

14 feb. 2022

Speaking to Carole Walker ahead of the inquiry, journalist and author Nick Wallis explains the Post Office scandal, where hundreds of former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly accused of stealing.

Their convictions were later overturned after it was discovered that a computer error was the cause of accounting shortfalls.

Nick Wallis said: ” And the government has been forced to set aside a billion pounds in compensation to those who a. were prosecuted and have now had their convictions quashed and b. who were forced to pay back money with menaces, and that number runs into the thousands.”

His book ‘The Great Post Office Scandal’ details the impact of the errors on the Post Office workers falsely accused.

He said: “This happened on an industrial scale.

“700 people falsely prosecuted, thousands more forced to pay back money that they never owed in the first place, creating broken lives, broken families and mental health problems that will continue to reverberate for many, many years to come.”

Listen to Nick Wallis speaking with Carole Walker on Times Radio.

EXPLAINED: The Post Office Wrongful Convictions Scandal | Nick Wallis – Blog

 

18 Post Office scandal victim on being wrongly imprisoned: I could’ve killed myself

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18 dec. 2021

Download the GB News App to watch live wherever you are, catch up with all our shows and get the latest news from the GBN family.
 
 
 

19 The Post Office Scandal: How not to Manage Software: James Christie

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18 aug. 2021
 
A forensic review of the ways in which Fujitsu and the Post Office failed to manage their Horizon software and how they were able to hide its failings through hundreds of court hearings. James describes the transparently obvious weaknesses and deceptions in the Post Office’s prosecutions that were apparently completely missed by the judges. He explains the simple questions that should have been asked which would have exposed the Post Office’s complete failure to manage their software competently, such as the record of use of privileged access and their review and responses to the Known Error Logs. James Christie has a lifetime’s experience of software testing, IT audit, IT security and IT development.
 
Vernon Stradling
Thank you for holding this interesting conversation with James.
leso204
Having watched severel vid’s on this subject from a laymans point of view (me) may i ask the question was the supposed missing funds missplaced or was it virtual money fabricated by the glitchy software so was not missing ??
Nvr Mnd
Fascinating, thank you. This unfortunate story reminds me of the dystopian movie Brazil.
Sol Snail
very interesting thank you.

20 The Post Office and the Miscarriage of Justice: Paul Marshall

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18 feb. 2022

Paul Marshall, barrister, describes his experience in the Post Office Ltd case, his role in establishing second category abuse of process by the Post Office, his obtaining the Clarke Advice and his dismay at the catastrophic consequences of the widespread and frequent failure by the judiciary to understand computer evidence (N.B. at 14.58 Paul says ‘the Post Office’ when he meant to say ‘the CCRC’).
 
Paul is listed in Chambers & Partners Global Rankings for commercial litigation. In 2017, serious illness interrupted his practice. In convalescence he volunteered to represent without charge three of those prosecuted by the Post Office and wrongfully imprisoned in the scandal of the most widespread miscarriage of justice in recent English legal history – possibly, since the witch trials.
 
With his junior, Flora Page, Paul, alone among the barristers acting for the 42 appellants and in the face of opposition, insisted that the Court of Appeal should hear and determine, as a free-standing separate ground of appeal, that the Post Office had engaged in conduct liable to undermine the integrity of the criminal justice system and to threaten public confidence in it. This is called ’second category abuse of process’. He was also responsible for eliciting from the Post Office in November 2020 the now infamous ‘Clarke Advice’. It revealed that, from 2013, the Post Office knew that its principal technical witness had repeatedly given misleading evidence to the court about the reliability of the Post Office’s Horizon computer system and in doing so had put the Post Office in breach of its duty as prosecutor. The Post Office suppressed that knowledge and withheld it from those it had prosecuted for 8 years. Paul’s three clients had to wait a combined total of 44 years for their wrongful convictions to be quashed. In the face of vague unspecified threats from the Court of Appeal of proceedings against him for contempt of court (that carry risk of imprisonment) for his having passed to the Metropolitan Police a copy of the Clarke Advice, a threat eventually withdrawn only in April 2021, Paul felt compelled to withdraw from representing his clients in December 2020. The Court of Appeal upheld second category abuse of process by the Post Office in 39 of the 42 appeals.
 
Anna Devine
Beyond belief and well done Paul and team albeit never adequate compensation. Also, too many David and Goliath situations when banks pull plug on people and businesses for any reported ‘suspicion’ then use the loose legal interpretation to defend their rights without any duty of care or responsibility for potential consequences on the innocent person or business under ‘suspicion’.
Douglas
The lack of confidence because of poor trials is reminiscent of the number of convictions from rape trials which have been rushed through on ideology but which are later proved to be unsound.

21 Falling Foul of the Disclosure Rules: The Post Office: Chris Daw QC

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25 feb. 2022

Here is the best summary of how to comply with the disclosure rules in criminal cases if you are a prosecutor. Chris talks about the ways in which a prosecutor should ensure that the disclosure he/she is allowing the defence is complete and true and the consequences of falling foul of the rules.
 
Chris Daw QC was called to the Bar in 1993 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2013. He has built an outstanding reputation as a defence barrister in the criminal courts, acting in high profile trials and appeals, from serious organised crime to commercial fraud as well as a broader range of matters, including business, regulatory and professional discipline instructions. He is also a broadcaster, legal commentator and active in encouraging less advantaged candidates to enter a career in the law.
 
europhile26
That was very good! A bit of a cautionary tale about the prospects of getting PO Prosecutors in Prison. Really liked the idea of making sure Private Prosecutions have a realistic case built (towards the end of the video) before the case can be submitted.

22 Autonomy Denied: The Pressure To Plead Guilty: Rebecca Helm

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21 jan. 2022

There are many unfair incentives that create pressure for people, including innocent people, to plead guilty. The Post Office scandal has thrown up many examples. Dr Rebecca Helm explains the current false assumptions relating to choice in the guilty plea system, the inadequacy of assuming that defendants have autonomy when deciding to plead guilty and suggests ways of improving the situation. 
 
Read the full discussion in: Guilty Plea Decisions: Moving Beyond the Autonomy Myth by Rebecca K. Helm, Roxanna Dehaghani and Daniel Newman; 2022 – The Modern Law Review – Wiley Online Library: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/f…
 
Dr Helm is the Director of the University of Exeter Evidence Based Justice Lab. Her research interest for the past decade has been on why people plead guilty in England and Wales and the USA. Nobody knows more about the injustices that the pressure to plead guilty can lead to. Rebecca has created The Evidence Based Justice Lab (https://evidencebasedjustice.exeter.a…) to collate and study the patterns of behaviour in the justice system, iincluding miscarriages of justice in the UK. 
 
Rebecca is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Exeter University, a Supervising Solicitor in the Law Clinic, and a UK Research and Innovation Fellow. She has a PhD in Law and Developmental Psychology and a Masters in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University, a Masters in Law from Cornell University Law School, and a BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford. She is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales and Attorney in New York state, USA.

le.

europhile26
Very good interview, I look forward to reading that paper. I hadn’t really considered the idea of Autonomy before.

23 The Post Office Scandal: The Naive Faith in Computers: Steven Murdoch

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10 dec. 2021


The courts have a naive faith in computer evidence, based in ignorance. Since the repeal of the section of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act which required certification that computer systems were functioning correctly, a presumption has been adopted by the courts of England and Wales that they simply do, without the need for any certification to confirm it and is therefore admissible as evidence.

This presumption formed the basis for the criminal prosecutions and civil actions against subpostmasters who were consequently put in the position of having to prove their innocence with no need by the Post Office to prove that Horizon, full of bugs as it was, was functioning properly.

This resulted in the hundreds of miscarriages of justice caused to subpostmasters and the ruin of many lives

Steven Murdoch is Professor of Security Engineering and Royal Society Research Fellow at University College London. He is Innovation Security Architect at OneSpan. He explains how wrong this presumption is, how ignorant the courts and lawyers are and how laughable IT specialists consider this presumption to be.

 

xh28
“The court system doesn’t seem to understand how computers work” (17m 32s) is perhaps one of the most worrying statements I have heard given the pervasive nature of IT systems these days – even the court systems are computerised. I have been following this on and off since Computer Weekly first started reporting it many years ago and it just keeps getting worse the more I learn. Many many people from PO Ltd and Fujitsu deserve to be locked up for what they did to the Subpostmasters.
Barney Page
Excellent interview. It appears one sub-postmaster, who was also a union representative was allowed access to the high security Fujitsu HQ. He noticed that terminals were being entered into sub-postmaster accounts by the software technicians. He was even given a demonstration. He also sensed that the staff were not happy that he was in the building and was escorted out when they found out he was not just a union rep but a sub-postmaster. His post office was soon audited, found to be short and he was removed. B Page
G B
The more I hear the more discusted I am

24 Demanding Justice: The Post Office Scandal

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In première gegaan op 18 mrt. 2022

The Post Office scandal saw over 700 Post Office employees wrongly prosecuted thanks to an error in Horizon’s accounting software.
 
Sky’s Ivor Bennett speaks to some of those who went through the terrible ordeal.
 
 
 

25 Post Office Horizon Scandal – Computerphile


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9 jul. 2021

Computer bugs were found to be the reason many sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were wrongly convicted of stealing and false accounting. Professor Steven Murdoch, a professor of Security Engineering and a Royal Society University Research Fellow at UCL explains the sorts of faults that were found.
 
 

26 Horizon scandal: Falsely accused sub-postmaster went through ’20 years of hell’ | ITV News

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14 feb. 2022

A sub-postmaster among those falsely accused of theft, fraud and false accounting has told an inquiry he went through “20 years of hell”, an inquiry heard on Monday. 
 
Baljit Sethi, 69, and his wife Anjana, 67 were left with a bill of £17,000 due to flaws within the Post Office system.
 
Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses (SPMs) were prosecuted based on information from the Horizon system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu.
 
However, in December 2019 a High Court judge ruled that Horizon’s system contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.

27 Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Human Impact – Day 8 AM Live Stream (23 February 2022)

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28 Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Human Impact – Day 9 PM Live Stream (24 February 2022)

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29 Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Human Impact Focus Group Day 2 AM Live Stream (11 March 2022)

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30 Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Human Impact – Day 10 AM Live Stream (25 February 2022)

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31 Public inquiry into Post Office scandal starts


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14 feb. 2022

A public inquiry has begun to examine the wrongful convictions of hundreds of people who ran post offices.
 
Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 people were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a flaw in a computer system.
 
 
 

32 Post Office Horizon scandal: ‘It’s broken people’s lives’ | Andrew Bridgen MP

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18 feb. 2022

‘It’s broken people’s lives.’
Andrew Bridgen MP discusses the inquiry into alleged miscarriages of justice by the Post Office as multiple postmasters were wrongly accused of stealing money.
 
 
 

33 – 39 former subpostmasters are cleared after Post Office wrongly accused them of theft and fraud

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23 apr. 2021


Former subpostmasters who were wrongly convicted because of the Post Office’s defective Horizon accounting system have called for a public inquiry into the scandal which “destroyed” people’s lives.

On Friday, 39 former subpostmasters who were convicted and even jailed for theft, fraud and false accounting finally had their names cleared by the Court of Appeal.

Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Picken and Mrs Justice Farbey, said the Post Office “knew there were serious issues about the reliability of Horizon” and had a “clear duty to investigate” the system’s defects.

But the Post Office “consistently asserted that Horizon was robust and reliable”, and “effectively steamrolled over any subpostmaster who sought to challenge its accuracy”, the judge added.

The Court of Appeal also allowed 39 of the appeals on the grounds that the prosecutions were an affront to the public conscience.

Lord Justice Holroyde said: “Post Office Limited’s failures of investigation and disclosure were so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the ‘Horizon cases’ an affront to the conscience of the court.”

Lawyers representing the former subpostmasters said evidence of serious defects in the Horizon system was “concealed from the courts, prosecutors and defence”, in order to protect the Post Office “at all costs”.
Continue reading:
Post Office scandal: 39 Postmasters whose lives were ‘ruined’ over faulty IT theft-claims sob as convictions overturned

34 IT Horizon scandal over for ex-postmasters in convictions appeal


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         IMPORTANT CONTENT

23 apr. 2021

Thirty nine sub-postmasters who were wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office have had their criminal convictions overturned.
 
 
 

35 Post Office – Inside Out South, BBC 1 – First transmitted 7 Feb 2011


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11 feb. 2011

A special investigation by the Inside Out South team into the sub-postmasters who have fallen foul of the Post Office’s Horizon computer system.
 
commonberus1
It’s amazing how few views this got. A great scandal that ruined the lives of hundreds of families. It seems people prefer pop music videos.
Oliver O'Shea
I’m not the biggest fan of politicians, but well done to James Arbuthnot for fighting with the post masters!
 
EASYTIGER10
Heads have to roll for this
jo bo
Well done everyone and especially Nick Wallis
Nicholas Bilaczenko
Experimental internet technology ie (Horizon) imposed on all sub postmasters in 1998/2000 that has never been tried and tested, importantly what unknown future consequences, we now know. An example is 2 different and incompatible internet technologies Dial-up and broadband of different bandwidth frequencies operating in the Horizon system that produce corrupt/bad Horizon financial transactions, Banks still use dial-up internet because it is free.
smelbo8
Prosectuctions for the bosses in charge .
Paul Cannon
Shameful! Miscarriage of justice!
David Healey
If you need help trying to recoup any losses due to this system read the article below and get in touch… http://www.candcsolicitors.co.uk/professional-negligence-claim/post-office-horizon-system-claims/

36 Public inquiry into sub-postmasters convicted of theft and fraud opens | 5 News

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Hundreds of people wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting may finally get answers soon. A public inquiry into the sub-postmaster scandal opened today and looks to get to the heart of what happened when a computer system made it look like money was disappearing. 
It had devastating results as more than 700 people running their own post offices lost their livelihoods, homes, and even went to prison.
 
 
 

37 Post Office scandal ‘ruined lives’, inquiry hears


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14 feb. 2022

A subpostmaster among those falsely accused of theft, fraud and false accounting has told an inquiry he “contemplated suicide” after being left with a bill of £17,000 due to flaws within the Post Office system. 
Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses (SPMs) were prosecuted based on information from the Horizon system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu. 
However, in December 2019 a High Court judge ruled that Horizon’s system contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
 
 
 

38 Wrongly convicted Post Office workers say those responsible should face jail

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16 feb. 2022

Former Post Office workers who were among those falsely accused of theft, fraud and false accounting have called for those responsible for their convictions to face prison. 
Mother-of-one Margery Lorraine Williams, 55, from Anglesey, Wales, who tearfully said she was left to pick up a bill of just over £14,000 because of the system fault. 
Also giving evidence was Damian Owen, from Anglesey in Wales, who was the manager of a post office. 
He was audited in 2010 and later jailed for eight months accused of stealing £25,000, he told an inquiry in central London. 
This is the official home of the Mirror on YouTube. Bringing you the best news, entertainment and real life stories from The Heart of Britain.
 
 
 

39 Parliamentary debate on treatment of convicted Post Office workers

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6 mrt. 2020

The jailing of two former post office workers from Shropshire has been branded ‘a grotesque miscarriage of justice’ in a parliamentary debate. Lucy Allan, MP for Telford, held a debate in Parliament to discuss the case of 56 former post office employees, including Tracy Felstead from Telford and Rubbina Shaheen from Worthen, near Shrewsbury, who are seeking to have their convictions quashed after a judge criticised the evidence against them. 
 
Read more on this story here: https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/p…
 
Laura Massa Meyer
When the Post Office accuses postmasters of theft, those people are forced to pay the PO money they don’t owe. When we find out that the Post Office wrongly prosecuted them, they aren’t forced to pay them back. The balance of power skews toward corporate interests in unprecedented ways. it makes Government look complicit as it is so pervasive and swept under the rug. Carillion, the Post Office, Fujitsu, Arconic (cladding), name any rail contractor. Please, at least TAX these companies for the privilege of sucking the life out of us?
Andrew Hanson
“My honourable friend is absolutely right and I am so pleased he made that point…” blah blah blah…. Bloody hot air all round.

40 Jealous Worker Messes with Fakir Prank

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