The Legal Instances Overview Fee (CCRC) has confirmed it’s inspecting a number of instances of former sub-postmasters affected by Seize software program.
The pc accounting system was used within the early Nineties, previous to Horizon being launched to Put up Workplace branches from 1999 onwards.
Horizon was on the centre of the Put up Workplace scandal and noticed a whole lot of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of stealing from their branches.
The Kroll report, commissioned by the federal government earlier this 12 months, discovered that Seize had bugs and glitches and there was an affordable probability it had brought on money shortfalls too.
Lord Beamish, the previous Labour MP Kevan Jones, has been supporting victims and is asking for the federal government to increase present laws to robotically quash convictions.
The Put up Workplace (Horizon System) Offences Act was handed in Might however doesn’t embody Seize victims.
Extra on Put up Workplace Scandal
“The government are going to have to take this seriously,” he mentioned. “We can’t have a situation where we have a two-tier system where people get exonerated from Horizon and the Capture cases are either forgotten or have to go through a very lengthy legal process to get their names cleared.”
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Chris claims his mom was wrongly jailed due to accounting issues with the Put up Workplace software program Seize
He added he had “little faith” within the CCRC’s “ability to deal with cases”, after a number of Horizon instances have been referred to the physique years in the past.
“The problem with these cases is the lack of evidence… that has been destroyed or lost so actually proving some of these cases through that process will be very difficult.
“Due to this fact I believe a blanket exoneration like we had with Horizon I believe has obtained to be mentioned and thought of for these instances.”
It also said it is “looking for additional info” on eight cases referenced in the Kroll report.
The CCRC added that the time taken for a case review to be completed was dependent on the “complexity” of each case “and the way available details about it’s”. In a statement, it admitted: “The provision of knowledge could be a explicit hurdle in older instances.”
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Chris’s mom died earlier this 12 months following a battle with Alzheimer’s and by no means obtained to clear her identify
Chris Roberts’ mom, Liz Roberts, was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Put up Workplace and spent 13 months behind bars.
Liz, who was within the superior phases of Alzheimer’s illness, handed away earlier this 12 months.
Chris mentioned she was jailed 4 days earlier than he turned 17, and he used to have “nightmares” that she was “going to die in there”.
“There was no evidence of any financial gain because they went through everything. And obviously the money wasn’t in our accounts because it didn’t exist,” he added.
Regardless of being supplied “three deals” by the Put up Workplace to plead responsible, Liz refused and was despatched to jail.
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Liz Roberts throughout happier instances earlier than she was jailed for theft – her son insists she was harmless
Chris believes that the 2019 Excessive Courtroom win by Horizon victims was a missed alternative for the Put up Workplace to look again at Seize instances.
“It would have been worth something then because my mum would have died knowing that everybody else knew she was innocent,” he mentioned.
“My dad would have died knowing that the love of his life wasn’t vilified as a criminal.”
Chris desires his mom exonerated and “those actively responsible” to “stand up in court… and justify themselves”.
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A Division for Enterprise and Commerce spokesperson mentioned: “We were horrified to learn about the issues with the Capture system and are working closely across government to thoroughly examine Kroll’s independent report and consider what action should be taken.
“We proceed to take heed to postmasters and others who’ve been sharing their views on the report’s findings since its publication final month.”
