The government is to introduce new legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the faulty Horizon IT system are swiftly “exonerated and compensated”.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and mistresses based on Horizon. More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions – only 93 of these convictions have been overturned.
The government has now committed to making sure these convictions are overturned later this year. Once the convictions have been quashed, individuals will be entitled to at least £600k in compensation.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “This is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history.
“People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation.”
In 2020 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice, wrote to 73 potential victims of the Horizon scandal in Scotland. As of December 2023, only 16 people had come forward to ask for their convictions to be reviewed.
The move comes as around 130 people affected by the scandal have now come forward since a new TV programme dramatising the scandal aired.
In addition, former Post Office Chief Executive Paula Vennells has handed back her CBE after a petition calling on her to do so attracted 1.2 million signatures.
