Lawyers representing former subpostmasters prosecuted due to branch shortfalls experienced when using the Post Office’s ‘Capture’ accounting software – a system used before Horizon – have welcomed calls from an independent board to overturn convictions.
Computer Weekly reports that the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has written to the Secretary of State for Justice urging the Government to introduce new legislation to overturn convictions with ‘particular speed’.
Capture was developed in-house by the Post Office’s information technology team and used in branches from 1992 onwards, with various versions and upgrades of the system introduced until the introduction of Horizon in 1999.
Earlier this year, an Independent Review of the Capture system by financial and risk advisory company Kroll found there was a ‘reasonable likelihood’ that it also caused shortfalls in branch accounts, similar to Horizon.
Now, the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, which includes peers, James Arbuthnot and Kevan Jones, has called for legislation similar to that introduced in May to overturn wrongful convictions related to Horizon, be introduced.
Advisory board chair Chris Hodges has written to Shabana Mahmood MP, the Secretary of State for Justice, advising that the Horizon and Capture situations are ‘indistinguishable’, and that the convictions should be overturned at speed.
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More than 80 former subpostmasters have legal representation
Hudgell Solicitors are presently advising more than 80 people who have turned to the firm for help having experienced unexplained losses in their branch accounts during the 90s, when the Capture system was used.
The firm has supported those affected by making representations to Post Office officials and Government Ministers and was instrumental in Kroll being commissioned to carry out the independent investigation.
Solicitor Neil Hudgell, who leads the firm’s representation of former subpostmasters in terms of overturning convictions and seeking full compensation, said:
We fully agree with the comments made by the Advisory Board and in particular the need to act quickly to exonerate this group of former subpostmasters.
As has quite rightly been highlighted, this group of people have carried the stigma of being wrongly convicted of crimes longer than any, and that also means that they are mostly of advancing age, so there is no time for delay in doing the right thing by them.
A precedent was set earlier this year for new legislation to be fast-tracked and introduced when it comes to reversing large-scale miscarriages of justice, so we see no reason why that can’t be repeated for those prosecuted based on evidence from the Capture system. We support the call of the Advisory Board fully and hope to see positive action taken when the Government makes its expected next announcement in December.