I HAVE not yet met a postmaster or postmistress who is not a pillar of their community.
How on earth then did the Post Office manage to bring 700 private prosecutions against postmasters over the last 20 years?
The sheer number should have raised the alarm.
Instead, convinced that their Fujitsu Horizon computer system was infallible, the Post Office pursued, persecuted and prosecuted these hard-working, law-abiding citizens for fraud and theft.
Enabled by its ancient right to bring private prosecutions without involving the police, the Post Office cracked down without mercy.
Its actions saw over 200 postmasters imprisoned, one suicide and several deaths.
Many more lost their jobs, savings and homes.
Although it was known that it was possible to manipulate individual post office computer terminals remotely without the postmasters’ knowledge, accounting errors were blamed on an unprecedented outbreak of criminality.
For most of the accused, the discrepancies were inexplicable.
But there was no respite.
Each time the postmasters thought they had made their case, the goalposts changed.
An internal enquiry was shut down, a compensation scheme revoked, there was even an unsuccessful attempt to remove the judge for ‘bias’.
With no single postmaster powerful enough to take on the mighty Post Office, a class action involving 550 finally won when Mr Justice Fraser ruled that the fault lay with the computer system.
A new television dramatisation has re-focused attention on the scandal, while the current Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry aims to ensure that ‘one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our history’ can never recur.
Despite the legal win, only 93 of more than 700 convictions have been overturned.
Until they are, compensation remains unpaid, although Fujitsu now accepts a ‘moral obligation’ to contribute.
This shocking injustice must never be allowed to happen again.
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