Put up Workplace to contest Seize conviction attraction regardless of chairman help for overturning en masse
The Put up Workplace is contesting a wrongful conviction attraction by a former subpostmaster who skilled issues with its Seize system within the Nineties.
That is regardless of Put up Workplace chairman Nigel Railton agreeing in January that each one Seize-based convictions ought to be overturned by means of laws.
In a enterprise and commerce choose committee listening to in January, he was requested whether or not, like with Horizon-related convictions, laws ought to be used to overturn them en masse. He stated “sure”.
In the identical listening to, when requested whether or not there’s a case for extending the laws to Seize customers, Amanda Pearce, interim CEO on the CCRC, stated: “There’s a case for it, completely.”
Whereas a whole bunch of convictions primarily based on proof from the defective Horizon system are being overturned by means of the unprecedented laws, customers of different techniques, together with Seize, are being processed by means of the CCRC.
Three circumstances primarily based on pre-Horizon software program have to date been despatched to the Court docket of Attraction, and the Put up Workplace is contesting all of them. These encompass Marston’s attraction, in addition to that of the household of Patricia Owen and that of Gareth Snow – who was prosecuted primarily based on proof from the APT system.
In March, Marston’s attraction grew to become the second Seize case to be referred to the Court docket of Attraction. He was subpostmaster in Bury, Lancashire, and convicted in 1997 for theft and false accounting, following an unexplained shortfall of practically £80,000. Marston stated he by no means had any issues utilizing the paper-based accounting system, however that modified when his department – which he ran from 1973 – started utilizing the Seize system.
Formal attraction
Owen, who died in 2003, pleaded not responsible to the theft of £6,000, however in 1998 was convicted and sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 2 years, at Canterbury Crown Court docket. Her attraction was formally despatched to the Court docket of Attraction in October final yr.
Requested who made the choice to contest Marston’s attraction, a Put up Workplace spokesperson stated: “Our response to those appeals are topic to in depth authorized recommendation, and our position is to help the Court docket of Attraction’s deliberation of the distinctive authorized and factual points prosecutions that will have concerned the Seize software program require. That is fully a choice for the Court docket as soon as they’ve thought of all related data, and Put up Workplace will welcome their thought of steerage.”
Solicitor Neil Hudgell of Hudgell Solicitors, which represents many former Seize customers interesting convictions, stated: “The Put up Workplace continues to repeat its failings of the previous. Understandably, subpostmasters say they proceed to not belief them. Like Patricia Owen, they contest Steve Marston’s attraction. They’re entitled to try this, however what they should do is have the decency to say so reasonably than disguise behind mealy mouthed phrases from an unnamed spokesperson that distorts the complete image. We’ll proceed the struggle within the Court docket of Attraction subsequent week and past.”
There are presently about 30 prosecutions below evaluation by the CCRC. Not like convictions primarily based on the Horizon system, which have been overturned en masse by means of laws, these primarily based on Seize should undergo the CCRC.
The Put up Workplace stated it’s treating every attraction on a case-by-case foundation.
Seize customers prosecuted
Seize, which predates Fujitsu’s Horizon system, was utilized in Put up Workplace branches within the Nineties to interchange paper-based accounting. Like with the controversial Horizon system on the centre of the Put up Workplace scandal, which noticed subpostmasters blamed for unexplained losses, some Seize customers have been prosecuted for monetary crimes.
The controversy over Seize emerged in January 2024, after ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Put up Workplace informed the tales of subpostmasters who had suffered by the hands of the Horizon system.
In the identical month, Kevan Jones, an MP on the time who now sits within the Home of Lords, highlighted proof of injustices triggered by Seize losses.
This led to a marketing campaign and, by December 2024, the federal government promised monetary redress and justice for subpostmasters affected by Seize issues. This adopted an unbiased investigation by forensic specialists at Kroll, which discovered there was a “cheap probability” the Put up Workplace Seize software program prompted accounting losses.
Marston, just like the household of Patricia Owen, has been a central determine within the marketing campaign for justice for former Seize customers.
Throughout January’s enterprise and commerce choose committee listening to, the CCRC stated it’s presently assessing 35 potential miscarriages of justice of customers of assorted Put up Workplace IT techniques that got here earlier than Horizon.
Laptop Weekly first uncovered the Put up Workplace scandal in 2009, revealing the tales of seven subpostmasters and the issues they suffered because of the Horizon system.
