After greater than 20 years, what’s now referred to because the Post Office Horizon scandal has turn into headline information. Computer Weekly has played an important part in exposing what has been described because the widest miscarriage of justice in UK historical past.
In 1999, the Post Office’s single shareholder, the UK authorities, started automating accounting processes at about 14,000 Post Office branches. This noticed the introduction of a centralised pc system from provider Fujitsu, which all branches had been related to. This system changed conventional paper-based accounting practices.
But issues ensued, and there was a sudden enhance within the variety of subpostmasters struggling unexplained accounting shortfalls. Rather than examine the issues and repair them, the Post Office blamed the department operators, lots of whom it prosecuted for monetary crimes, with many extra made bankrupt and sacked.
What is the Horizon system?
Horizon is software program that was initially developed by UK software program firm ICL, which was acquired by Japanese IT big Fujitsu in 1998. The system has an digital level of sale service (EPOSS) that permits subpostmasters and department employees to key in gross sales on a touchscreen, with the accounts being automated within the background. At the time of its roll-out in 1999/2000, it was the most important non-military IT undertaking in Europe.
What issues had been brought on by the system?
Almost instantly after the set up of Horizon at Post Office branches, there was a rise within the variety of subpostmasters experiencing accounting shortfalls that they may not clarify. Many had by no means beforehand skilled such shortfalls. Under the paper-based system, they may monitor again and discover the trigger. But not anymore.
Computer Weekly cowl from May 2009 when it first reported on the issues subpostmasters had been having with the Horizon IT system
And whereas the expertise had modified, the contract between the Post Office and subpostmasters, who owned their very own companies however had been brokers for the Post Office, remained the identical. It said that any accounting shortfalls had been the duty of the subpostmasters except they may show in any other case. But with out the chain of proof created by paper-based accounting strategies, proving the losses weren’t their fault was close to not possible for a lot of.
Who was affected?
Subpostmasters have a contract with the Post Office to run branches, however they aren’t staff of the Post Office. They normally have a retail enterprise related to the Post Office, the thought being that the retail operation will achieve extra prospects by the Post Office drawing individuals in. There are additionally Crown branches, that are owned by the Post Office. These bigger operations have department managers in place.
How had been subpostmasters affected?
For 15 years after the roll-out of Horizon, the Post Office – which has personal investigation and prosecution powers with no need for police involvement – prosecuted greater than 700 subpostmasters for crimes reminiscent of theft and false accounting. Hundreds of subpostmasters had been despatched to jail and lots of extra acquired punishments reminiscent of being compelled to do group service and having to put on digital tags. They lived their lives with felony information.
Hundreds had been made bankrupt, dropping their livelihood, and lots of struggled after being compelled to pay the Post Office to cowl shortfalls that didn’t exist exterior the Horizon system. The lives of the victims and their households had been severely impacted, with a number of suicides linked to the scandal and lots of instances of sickness brought on by stress.
How did the Post Office preserve a lid on this for thus lengthy?
The Post Office was decided to preserve a lid on the Horizon issues. To do that, it instructed workers in its name centre, which was the primary contact level for subpostmasters having issues, to inform callers they had been the one ones experiencing issues.
It went additional than this by utilizing its authorized groups and deep pockets to defend itself towards accusations, in courtroom if crucial. It bragged about stopping subpostmasters from “leaping on the Horizon bashing bandwagon” when it silenced them. It additionally lied to journalists, politicians and anyone else who questioned the robustness of the Horizon system.
How the Post Office used concern to deter subpostmasters from difficult Horizon
The Post Office used felony and civil authorized motion to shut subpostmasters up. If subpostmasters continued to complain and make noise in regards to the system, it might discover methods to cease them as a result of it didn’t need the broader community of department operators to discover out.
For instance, if a subpostmaster being blamed for an unexplained shortfall sought knowledgeable IT recommendation, the Post Office would typically again down. In 2003, when the Post Office was suing a subpostmaster who was blaming Horizon for shortfalls at her department in Lancashire, a decide ordered it to appoint an knowledgeable IT witness. When the expert revealed problems with Horizon, the Post Office paid off the subpostmaster and compelled her to signal a non-disclosure settlement.
At across the similar time, the Post Office took Lee Castleton, a subpostmaster in Bridlington, to courtroom over an unexplained shortfall of £35,000. Castleton, who was one of many first seven victims interviewed by Computer Weekly, refused to pay the cash, citing pc issues as the reason for the shortfall. The Post Office spent over £300,000 crushing Castleton in courtroom. It bankrupted him and devastated his and his household’s life.
The Post Office additionally despatched individuals to jail to make an instance of them. Former subpostmaster Seema Misra was prosecuted and despatched to jail primarily based on proof from the Horizon system. After she was convicted, former Post Office head of felony legislation Jarnail Singh wrote a celebratory email to colleagues, claiming this end result would cease others from “leaping on the Horizon bashing bandwagon”.
What was Computer Weekly’s function in exposing the scandal?
Computer Weekly broke the primary story that uncovered the issues being skilled by subpostmasters.
The letter Alan Bates wrote to Computer Weekly in 2004
In 2004, Alan Bates, a subpostmaster in north Wales, contacted Computer Weekly about the truth that he was getting unexplained shortfalls, which he was satisfied had been brought on by Horizon errors.
Nothing was written, however in 2008, Lee Castleton additionally contacted Computer Weekly telling an analogous story. This was sufficient to spark a wider investigation.
A yr later, Computer Weekly advised the story of seven subpostmasters who had been experiencing unexplained losses. This stimulated Bates’ combat towards the Post Office, which had already been happening for almost 10 years. The article revealed to subpostmasters who had been having Horizon issues that they weren’t alone and that the Post Office was mendacity to them.
Computer Weekly continues to examine and report on the story to at the present time.
In May 2009, Computer Weekly revealed a narrative about seven subpostmasters who had been experiencing unexplained losses, revealing to others that they weren’t alone and that the Post Office was mendacity to them
Who is Alan Bates?
In 1998, Alan Bates and his companion Suzanne Sercombe purchased a Post Office in Craig-y-Don, north Wales. It was a plan to give them each time to spend on issues exterior work – in Bates’ case, this was strolling within the hills; for Sercombe, arts and crafts – whereas nonetheless working.
Back then, the Post Office was run utilizing handbook techniques, however by the tip of 2000, these had been changed by the Post Office’s Horizon retail and accounting system, from Fujitsu – and issues shortly went improper.
Bates was one of many seven subpostmasters interviewed as a part of Computer Weekly’s first investigation. He skilled unexplained losses and refused to log off accounts, as a result of he was certain the losses had been brought on by pc errors. The Post Office tried to pressure him to log off the accounts, however he continued to refuse. The Post Office terminated his contract, taking his job, life financial savings and retirement plan with it.
But Bates was not accomplished with the Post Office. He arrange an internet site to strive to discover different subpostmasters having issues and campaigned at occasions such because the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) annual convention.
The Post Office department owned by Alan Bates and Suzanne Sercombe in Craig-y-Don, Llandudno, Wales, with a banner selling the web site he arrange to strive to discover different subpostmasters having issues with Horizon
What is the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance?
Just a number of months after Computer Weekly publicised the plight of subpostmasters, Bates had been approached by extra subpostmasters who had been experiencing comparable issues and had discovered others. Together, they formed the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) they and deliberate a gathering in Fenny Compton, a village in Warwickshire, due to its central location. Subpostmasters and former subpostmasters from throughout the nation turned up and a marketing campaign was born.
Why did MPs become involved?
One JFSA member – and one other of the primary seven interviewed by Computer Weekly – is Jo Hamilton. The former subpostmaster in Hampshire began experiencing issues in October 2003. Post Office auditors visited the department in March 2005 and advised Hamilton she owed £36,000. They prosecuted her for theft and 14 counts of false accounting.
The Post Office advised her it might drop the theft cost if she pleaded responsible to false accounting. Fearing jail, she agreed, however proof has since proved the Post Office had no proof of theft. Hamilton says the case didn’t take care of the problem of IT.
She was given a yr’s probation. Her home was remortgaged to pay the cash, and the villagers in South Warnborough collected £9,000 between them to assist. Her native MP, James Arbuthnot, bought concerned with Hamilton’s case after Computer Weekly revealed her story. The Conservative MP, now within the House of Lords, turned a significant campaigner in Parliament for the subpostmasters, alongside Labour MP Kevan Jones, whose constituent Tom Brown, a former subpostmaster in Newcastle, additionally suffered issues with Horizon.
What was the mediation scheme and Second Sight investigation?
With MPs starting to elevate points, the government-owned Post Office was compelled to take issues critically. In 2012, to fulfill calls for from politicians, it launched an external review and mediation scheme to have a look at instances the place subpostmasters had been alleging issues.
As a part of this, the Post Office appointed and paid forensic accountancy firm Second Sight to examine instances. There had been fears this is able to be used to sweep the problem below the carpet. But if this was the Post Office’s plan, as many suspected, it backfired. It quickly turned obvious to Second Sight that the subpostmasters weren’t thieves and fraudsters, however hard-working individuals scuffling with a pc system and an organisation that cared for the repute of that pc system over the very welfare of its subpostmaster community.
Why did the Post Office finish the mediation scheme and cease Second Sight’s investigation?
In March 2015, on the eve of the publication of its full investigation report, Second Sight’s work was stopped and the mediation scheme was closed. It had turn into clear Second Sight was getting shut to the reality. The remaining report discovered there was an actual risk that there had been miscarriages of justice within the Post Office prosecutions. It mentioned the organisation had been too fast to prosecute earlier than investigating proof.
With the Post Office obstructing progress, it was time for a special strategy. This is when the JFSA started its work in the direction of a gaggle litigation order (GLO).
What was the Bates and others versus Post Office High Court group litigation order?
In 2015, after the collapse of the mediation scheme, the JFSA announced that it was preparing a group litigation, by which tons of of victims would sue the Post Office for the harm inflicted on them by the error-prone Horizon system, which the organisation nonetheless mentioned was sturdy and didn’t include errors that might trigger account shortfalls.
A bunch motion is a case the place quite a few claimants with comparable claims get collectively to provoke an motion towards a single celebration. It is analogous to a US class motion. Freeths Solicitors and Henderson Barristers Chambers ready the civil motion by the High Court. Funding for the group action was supplied by litigation funders, who lend cash to cowl authorized prices, which is paid again with curiosity when a case is gained. About 1,000 former subpostmasters utilized to be a part of the motion and it went ahead with 555.
The courtroom case proved subpostmasters had been proper in regards to the Horizon system – it contained bugs, errors and defects that might trigger accounting shortfalls. It revealed the reality and gave convicted subpostmasters the proof they wanted to attraction their convictions
In November 2018, the primary of 4 deliberate trials started, with proof from Alan Bates himself.
In December 2019, after two trials – the primary inspecting the contract between the Post Office and subpostmasters, and the second targeted on the Horizon system – the Post Office conceded and settled with the subpostmasters. But this occurred after the Post Office tried to get the managing decide, Peter Fraser, to recuse himself, accusing him of bias.
The 555 claimants had been awarded £58m in compensation, however after prices solely £11m was left to share between them. But the case had proved they had been proper in regards to the Horizon system – it contained bugs, errors and defects that might trigger accounting shortfalls.
It revealed the reality and gave tons of of convicted subpostmasters the proof they wanted to attraction their convictions. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) took on cases and the combat to quash convictions started
Why is the Post Office scandal seen because the widest miscarriage of justice in UK historical past?
In December 2020, the primary six subpostmasters had their convictions primarily based on Horizon proof quashed in Southwark Crown Court. In April the next yr, an additional 39 wrongful subpostmaster convictions were overturned within the landmark case bearing the identify of Jo Hamilton, Hamilton and others versus Post Office, within the Court of Appeal.
The decide not solely dominated that the prosecutions had been wrongful, however that they had been an affront to justice. Some 93 of over 736 convictions associated to Horizon have now been overturned, and the governement has introduced unprecedented plans for emergence laws to overturn the remainder in one group.
Former subpostmaster Hughie “Noel” Thomas is congratulated exterior courtroom after having his conviction quashed in April 2021
Why is compensation for subpostmasters nonetheless an ongoing injustice?
Despite greater than 20 years of struggling for a lot of subpostmasters and 4 years having handed because the High Court judgment, most subpostmasters are but to obtain the compensation they’re due. The Post Office has quite a few totally different compensation schemes however progress to pay subpostmasters, lots of whom are in monetary problem, is just too sluggish. Many have died earlier than receiving the cash they’re owed.
What is the statutory public inquiry?
After the High Court victory in 2019, the very first thing Alan Bates mentioned to Computer Weekly was that he wished a statutory public inquiry into the scandal. He bought it in May 2021, when a government inquiry into the scandal was made statutory.
The inquiry, chaired by former decide Wyn Williams, is split into seven phases. It has to date heard statements from victims within the human influence section, investigated the Horizon IT system, checked out its operation and data of errors, in addition to authorized motion towards subpostmasters.
After the High Court victory in 2019, Alan Bates (pictured left) referred to as for a statutory public inquiry into the scandal – he bought it in May 2021
What has the general public inquiry uncovered?
The human impact hearings had been surprising, revealing the intense struggling of individuals by the hands of the Post Office. Other phases have revealed that the Post Office had data that the Horizon software program had bugs when rolled out, prosecution witnesses changed their statements when prompted by the Post Office, and legal professionals hid proof throughout trials of subpostmasters as a result of it might have made their prosecutions unsafe. It has additionally featured administrators, politicians and civil servants who, whether or not intentionally or not, contributed to the cover-up.
Who has been held to account?
So far, no Post Office or Fujitsu executives have been held accountable or punished for what occurred. In reality, Fujitsu continues to money in on authorities IT contracts and former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells walked away from the organisation in disgrace with a huge payout. The solely individuals who have been punished are the victims of the scandal.
Who is Paula Vennells?
Paula Vennells, a former Anglican priest, was CEO of the Post Office from 2012 to 2019 after serving in different senior roles on the organisation. She was awarded a CBE for companies to the Post Office in 2019.
She jumped ship simply prior to the damaging High Court judgment, which slammed the administration of the corporate that punished subpostmasters for errors made by its personal pc system. She took greater than £400,000 in pay and bonuses together with her.
There are requires her to be stripped of her CBE due to her function within the Post Office scandal. Last yr, Alan Bates turned down an OBE as a result of he believed it might be “inappropriate” whereas victims nonetheless endure and one of many scandal’s architects retains her honour.
What is Mr Bates vs the Post Office about?
An ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, was broadcast in January 2024, bringing the true extent of the Post Office scandal to a wider public. In the video beneath, a few of the actors who performed the real-life victims of the Post Office discuss in regards to the appalling means by which these harmless individuals had been handled.
Post-drama, drama
Following the airing of Mr Bates vs The Post Office on ITV within the first week of 2024, a 24-year-old scandal that has been reported by numerous media retailers since Computer Weekly broke the story in 2009, turned headline information. Newspapers, TV and radio jumped on the story.
News, reported years in the past by Computer Weekly and one other choose few, turned information once more. The public anger spurred the federal government into motion after years of lethargy. The authorities introduced unprecedented emergency laws to exonerate hundreds of wrongly convicted subpostmasters and MPs demanded an viewers with Fujitsu and the Post Offices bosses. Fujitsu apologised, admitted to its function in inflicting the scandal and mentioned it had a moral obligation to contribute to the costs, together with monetary redress for victims, associated to the scandal.
Post Office felony investigators may turn into criminally investigated
Phase 4 of the statutory public inquiry ran for six months, punctuated by delays on account of the Post Office’s failure to disclose data in a well timed method. Ironic, because the section was investigating the Post Office’s authorized practices when prosecuting subpostmasters, which included failure to disclose data to subpostmaster defence groups.
Since ITV’s drama went out within the first week of 2024, former subpostmasters who haven’t but advised their tales have come ahead. This is no surprise, however what has been a shock is the quantity coming ahead complaining of unexplained losses when utilizing a pre-Horizon system referred to as Capture.
A screenshot from throughout the Capture software program reveals the Post Office copyright discover
People had been compelled to repay shortfalls on this technique and a few had been prosecuted. Peer Kevan Jones, then MP for Durham North, was contacted by a constituent who had issues with Capture, and a rising quantity are looking for authorized recommendation. The Post Office mentioned it’s taking this critically and mentioned individuals can come ahead with claims.
Capture was not comparable with Horizon, however was a chunk of software program {that a} subpostmaster would upload onto a personal computer to do their accounts – it was a “glorified spreadsheet” in accordance to one subpostmaster. But there isn’t a cause to consider the Post Office handled unexplained losses on this technique any in a different way to the way in which it handled them on Horizon.
Following strain from campaigners the federal government has commissioned specialist investigators from forensic specialist Kroll to study whether or not the Post Office software program software triggered unexplained loses that customers had been blamed for and in some instances convicted of monetary crimes. On completion of its investigation Kroll concluded there is a “reasonable likelihood” that the system, used within the Nineteen Nineties triggered accounting shortfalls.
