Post Office scandal: Ex-minister calls for mass appeal against convictions

Hundreds of postmasters convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal should be able to lodge a mass appeal, a former government minister has said.

Sir David Davis, who is seeking to question ministers over the scandal, told the BBC there was “no real reason” not to have a “class case”.

Ministers are scheduled to meet to consider possible ways to clear the names of hundreds of convicted post office managers.

The Prime Minister told the BBC that the government is reviewing options available to help the victims.

The scandal led to the conviction of more than 700 branch managers on charges of false accounting, theft and fraud, based on flawed software.

Some subpostmasters went wrongly to prison, and many were financially ruined. Some have since died.

Speaking on the Today programme, Sir David Davis said the drama had prompted a response to the scandal. “There are now tens of millions of people who care about this — who care a lot. They are angry in many cases.”

He added: “All the cases depend on one lie, and no one but the postmasters and the mistresses have access to their computers. We now know that's not true. I see no real reason, no logical reason why you shouldn't.” A class action, a class appeal on this basis.”

Sir David and Labor MP Kevan Jones are among those hoping for the chance to scrutinize a minister in the House of Commons, which will meet on Monday for the first time since the Christmas break.

The post office – which is wholly owned by the government – acted as prosecutor when it brought cases against subpostmasters between 1999 and 2015.

A petition calling for former Post Office chief executive Paula Fennells to lose her central position over the scandal has received more than a million signatures. Ms Fennells has been contacted for comment on the petition.

Tracey Felstead and Janet Skinner were sub-postmistresses who were jailed in connection with the Post Office Horizon scandal. They told BBC Breakfast that Ms Fennells should return her CBE.

“To be fair, if she had any decency she would have sent it back,” Skinner said.

Ms Felstead said she would like to see “someone take responsibility”.

“The post office has labeled us as criminals,” she said. “Now it's their turn to investigate and find out who knew what, why and when all this happened. Someone has to take responsibility for everyone.”

Many victims of the scandal are still fighting to have their convictions overturned or receive full compensation after being forced to pay thousands of pounds out of their own pocket for shortfalls caused by Horizon accounting software.

The case has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, but to date, fewer than 100 people have had their convictions overturned.

Professor Chris Hodges, chair of Horizon's reparations advisory board, told the Today programme: “A civilized state should overturn these convictions and provide reparations to people who are forced to do as little as possible.”

Some have argued that quashing all convictions could infringe on the independence of the judiciary, but Professor Hodges said that although this was a consideration, he did not believe it was important in the circumstances.

“This is not a situation where anyone can complain that the government is violating anyone's human rights,” he said.

Professor Hodges added that he would be “very surprised” if the judiciary was not “already as angry and embarrassed about the situation as we all are, so I don’t think there is a constitutional issue behind this already.” .

However, Ms Felstead, the former postmaster, told the BBC that although the process of helping former postmasters needed to be speeded up, she warned against mass exoneration.

“I think we need to be really careful that we're not just going to overturn everyone's convictions if there's one person who committed a crime and you just hand over their conviction,” she said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the BBC on Sunday that “it is right that we find all the ways we can to try to put this right for the people who were treated unfairly at that time.”

As a result of renewed anger and headlines in the wake of the ITV miniseries – Mr Bates v the Post Office – the meeting between Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and the Post Office Minister, Kevin Hollinrake, has been moved forward by a week.

On Monday, Mr. Chalk and Mr. Hollinryck will speak with government lawyers to explore the mechanics of a legal attempt to speed up the process.

The Prime Minister said on Sunday that the government was reviewing options including stripping the Post Office of its role in the appeals process.

There was concern within the government that overturning convictions and obtaining compensation for those who were victims of miscarriages of justice was too slow.

So far, 93 judgments have been overturned, and of those, only 30 people have agreed to “full and final settlements.”

Meanwhile, 54 cases resulted in either the conviction being upheld, people being denied permission to appeal, or the person appealing withdrawing from the process, according to the Post Office.

The Post Office had the authority to decide whether to file the original lawsuits, and its appointed attorneys presented evidence to the court. But one option now is for the Crown Prosecution and its lawyers to intervene as the appeals continue to be heard.

Currently, a public inquiry into the scandal is underway, and the Metropolitan Police are investigating the Post Office over possible fraud offenses arising from the prosecutions.

A Post Office spokesman previously said it shared “the aims of the public inquiry to get to the bottom of past wrongs and establish accountability”.