A lawyer representing individuals affected by a “second Post Office IT scandal” has stated they “must not” have “a long, hard battle ahead for exoneration and compensation”.
A report in the present day discovered it’s “a reasonable likelihood” that Seize software program “created shortfalls” for sub-postmasters previous to the Horizon scandal.
The system, which was the predecessor to Horizon, was rolled out to branches from 1993 onwards.
An inquiry into the Submit Workplace’s Horizon accounting system has heard that greater than 900 sub-postmasters had been wrongly prosecuted and obtained prison convictions as a result of the IT system made it seem as if cash was lacking at their branches.
No less than 40 former sub-postmasters declare they had been additionally falsely accused of stealing because of “glitches” in Seize.
The unbiased report into Seize by Kroll, a threat advisory and monetary options firm, concluded it was “a reasonable likelihood that Capture could have created shortfalls for sub postmasters”.
Kroll has not made any conclusions in regards to the security of prison convictions. It did discover that 13.5% of all branches could have been utilizing Seize.
The report additionally found that sub-postmasters stated that community managers and space managers pressured them to make use of the system.
It stated that authorized investigation groups weren’t trying on the query of “bugs or errors” within the system on the time.
Kroll additionally questioned the Seize Helpdesk remit and effectiveness.
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Seize software program predates the defective Horizon system
He stated: “Like Horizon, it was a flawed system which was destroying lives whilst officials repeatedly ignored the evidence playing out in front of their eyes.”
The unbiased overview has solely taken place “as a result of the bravery, determination and resilience of those affected, who came forward to speak about what had happened to them, and ultimately would not let injustice go unchallenged”, he added.
Mr Hudgell is looking for “fast action on these failings” together with the creation of a compensation scheme to permit individuals to “seek speedy settlements, or to further investigate their own individual cases”.
“It should never have needed such a long, hard battle to reach this stage, and there now must not be a long, hard battle ahead for exoneration and compensation,” he stated. “As we have seen this year, new legislation can be fast-tracked and introduced to overturn unsafe convictions and clear peoples’ names.”
Lord Beamish, previously MP Kevan Jones, was on the report briefing assembly and stated he believes that information on Seize “do exist”.
“I think some more digging needs to be done at the Post Office,” he stated. “I wouldn’t trust the Post Office as far as I can spit.”
He described it as a “copycat” of the Horizon scandal.
A Submit Workplace spokesperson stated: “We have, and will continue to, fully support the independent forensic accountancy investigation established by the government into the Capture software.
“We now have been very involved from the outset in regards to the reported issues referring to the usage of the Seize software program within the Nineteen Nineties and are sincerely sorry for previous failings which have induced struggling to postmasters.
“We remain determined that wrongs must be put right as far as that can be possible.”
A bunch of sub-postmasters submitted materials, together with floppy disks containing the software program, to investigators.
They claimed that errors occurred when upgrades had been made to Seize, and energy cuts had been additionally one other doable cause for faults.
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Sub-postmasters beforehand raised parallels between Seize and Horizon
Steve Marston, 68, says he was wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting after errors brought on by Seize accounting software program.
Auditors discovered shortfalls of £79,000 at his department in Larger Manchester in 1998 – he subsequently pleaded responsible to theft and false accounting.
He stated Seize “was totally unfit for use and should never have been released”.
He claims that sub-postmasters had been advised that “[the software] would make our lives easier and that we would no longer have to do manual accounting as we had in the past”.
He says he was given Seize by the Submit Workplace “and basically left to get on with it without any sort of guidance”.
One other Seize sufferer, Steve Lewis, misplaced his job in 2000 after elevating considerations about shortfalls and Seize software program glitches.
“I’ve always been looked on as being the man who robbed the Post Office,” he stated.
“I lost my post office, the commercial buildings that I had moved my office to, and was forced to sell my family home.”
Mr Lewis claims he was warned “not to be a troublemaker” and advised the problems had been solely occurring to him.
It wasn’t till he watched the TV drama, Mr Bates Vs The Submit Workplace, that he “realised” similarities between Horizon victims and himself comparable to “unexplained losses”.
In January, the federal government ordered the Submit Workplace to analyze the claims associated to Seize.
