{"id":1449,"date":"2024-01-07T12:51:59","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T12:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/pm-considers-ways-to-clear-all-victims-of-post-office-scandal\/"},"modified":"2024-01-07T12:51:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T12:51:59","slug":"pm-considers-ways-to-clear-all-victims-of-post-office-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/pm-considers-ways-to-clear-all-victims-of-post-office-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"PM considers ways to clear all victims of Post Office scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

PM considers ways to clear all victims of Post Office scandal<\/p>\n

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By Dearbail Jordan<\/div>\n
Business reporter<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Measures are being considered by the government to clear hundreds of sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty software.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Fewer than 100 people have had their convictions quashed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The prime minister said the government was now reviewing options – including removing the Post Office from the appeals process. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rishi Sunak told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the scandal was “an appalling miscarriage of justice”. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Post Office – which is wholly-owned by the government – acted as the prosecutor when it brought the cases against its sub-postmasters and retains a role when those individuals appeal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In some cases it has opposed attempts by sub-postmasters to clear their names. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Asked by Laura Kuenssberg if the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk was looking at whether all those convicted could be exonerated or the Post Office could be stripped of its role, Mr Sunak said: “Obviously, there’s legal complexity in all of those things but he is looking at exactly those areas that you’ve described.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It is right that we find every which way we can do to try to make this right for the people who were so wrongfully treated at the time.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last month, a board overseeing compensation called for all Post Office staff wrongly accused of theft and false accounting to have their convictions overturned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Crown Prosecution Service could step into the Post Office’s role in the appeals process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But Sir Bob Neill, chair of the Justice Select Committee, suggested such a move could require extra resources and have a knock-on effect on other cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The Director of Public Prosecutions [Stephen Parkinson] has to take that decision themselves, they have to do it independently,” he said. “I’m sure they’d look at it, they have to look at each case independently on its merits. To do that I think you’d probably need extra resources. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“And then the final point is, of course, the Court of Appeal would have to make time to hear these cases and so there would need to be the agreement of the Ministry of Justice to make judges available and that might mean other cases going further down the queue.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ministry of Justice said last month that it wanted the criminal appeals system to be as efficient and effective as possible, adding that it had asked the Law Commission to examine whether reforms were needed, and was waiting for that review to be concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lee Castleton, a former postmaster who said his life has been ruined by the Post Office, said that people are “traumatised” by both the appeals process and the battle to secure compensation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We’re just normal people”, he told the BBC, adding that it should be taken out of the “hands of the people that really caused it”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I would love it to be taken out of the hands of the people that really caused it in a way,” he said.”This is not just a computer issue, this is a people issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“People took people to court. People made decisions on faulty data that they probably knew was faulty.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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