Lawyers representing former sub-postmasters who were prosecuted, sacked or made to pay back alleged branch shortfalls when using the Capture accounting system today welcomed a Government pledge to support exonerations and compensate victims.
Hudgell Solicitors are already advising a significant number of former sub-postmasters who were affected between 1992 and 1999 when various versions and upgrades of the system were used prior to the introduction of Horizon.
Those who have come forward include people directly impacted as they were sub-postmasters themselves, but also, due to the length of time which has since passed, many relatives of people who have since died.
Hudgells’ dedicated Post Office legal team is now working to ensure cases can be submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to be considered for referral to the Court of Appeal.
They are also working with the Government to put together a scheme for redress for those not convicted in the criminal courts.
Arrange a call back
People urged to come forward ‘as soon as possible’
The Government today said it will support the CCRC and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in considering cases, and be working towards confirming a redress scheme by next Spring.
Making the announcement, Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas encouraged all former sub-postmasters who may have used Capture and experienced shortfalls to come forward, as well as family members of any sub-postmasters who have since passed away.
Solicitor Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, repeated that call and said his legal team were grateful for the opportunity to work with the Government to help shape a new redress scheme. He said:
We welcome today’s update from the Government regarding the victims of Capture.
For those with criminal convictions, we are working with them in submitting their cases to the CCRC. For those who have not started the process, we urge them to do so as soon as possible. The quicker that process starts, the sooner we can see these cases appear before the Court of Appeal.
We welcome the Government’s oversight in ensuring the Post Office delivers to the CCRC as quickly as they possibly can, all information held relating to those victims and their convictions. Disclosure has been a painful exercise with the Post Office, and time is very much not on the side of these badly wronged people.
For those not subject to criminal proceedings, but who were suspended, had contracts terminated and had lives ruined or were made to pay back alleged shortfalls, we welcome the opportunity to work with the Government over the coming months to ensure we have a full and fair, and speedy compensation process established in the early part of 2025.
We started that process today by meeting with Lord Beamish and Government, alongside some of our clients.
Hundreds possibly affected by Capture issues
The Government has said that it is unable to confirm the number of people affected, but Kroll, the firm which carried out an independent review into Capture, said it estimates it was installed in around 13.5% of all branches. Mr Hudgell said:
My conservative guess would be that this situation affected hundreds of people, but there are likely to be more people no longer with us, and from those that have turned to us already, we have found that the evidence is harder to come by.
Our advice is to seek legal advice if you have any recollection of any issues with branch accounts and IT-based systems. That goes for former sub-postmasters, but also relatives who know their loved ones ran branches at that time, and may have experienced issues.
June Tooby and her husband Ken
Former subpostmaster kept years of documentation
Of those seeking redress is the family of June Tooby, who from 1994 onwards, spent years challenging the Post Office over alleged shortfalls in the accounts at her branch in the North East.
She was relentlessly pursued by the Post Office and spent hours in her office without ever telling her husband Ken of the pressure she was under.
During these years, she kept boxes of letters to and from the Post Office – and a personal diary.
Although it proved of no help to her when she was sued for more than £55,000 and taken to court in 2003, leading to her being declared bankrupt, it was of huge significance more than two decades later – and four years after her death – as it was considered, and influential, when an independent investigation was commissioned into Capture, concluding that there was a ‘reasonable likelihood’ it had caused shortfalls in branch accounts. Her husband Ken said:
We’re immensely proud of June. She knew she was innocent and that there was a problem with the Capture system and she challenged it for years, as her paperwork shows.
In all that time, she never revealed the extent of the pressure that she was being put under by the Post Office, and as someone who was meticulous in everything she did, it would have been terrible for her.
She took it all on her shoulders as she didn’t want to worry me. She always knew she was right, but sadly she never got to see the day where that was proven as it has been now, and much of that is down to her, as she had so much evidence of, which went towards the recent investigation.
June’s niece Vivian added:
June always fought this and we’ve been determined to her battle through to the end. That will only be achieved by clearing the names of those that were prosecuted, and compensating those who lost so much.
