CCRC refers case based on third faulty Post Office system

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred a conviction based on a third Post Office IT system to the Court of Appeal.

The appeal by former subpostmaster Gareth Snow, who ran a branch in Denbighshire, potentially widens the Post Office scandal even further. Snow used the Post Office’s Automatic Payment Service (APS) and Automatic Payment Terminal (APT) when his branch shortfalls began to appear, eventually reaching almost £60,000.

Following an audit at his branch in November 2000, the Post Office prosecution alleged that he had falsified documents for accounting purposes, which must have been to cover losses. He pleaded guilty on all counts of false accounting in July 2001 at Caernarfon Crown Court and was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. Snow admitted that he falsified accounts, but said that was because errors caused by the APT had resulted in accounting shortfalls.  

He initially applied for leave to appeal his conviction in 2021 but later abandoned the move. A subsequent application to the CCRC was submitted in March 2023.  

The latest referral means there are convictions based on three different Post Office IT systems that have been sent to the Court of Appeal. About 900 convictions based on the Post Office’s infamous Horizon system have been overturned by legislation, while so far one conviction based on its pre-Horizon Capture system has been referred to the Court of Appeal. Another 30 or so convictions based on Capture are under review by the CCRC.

The third system under question included an electronic terminal connected to telephone lines and was used to carry out transactions such as rent, rates, and utility bills.

One former Post Office employee told Computer Weekly that APS/APT was one of the early automation projects. “It came at a time when more and more people wanted to pay using smartcards,” he said.

CCRC chair Vera Baird, KC said: “There is evidence that the APS/APT could cause accounting errors. In Mr Snow’s case, he would say that there was no evidence of any actual loss. While Mr Snow did not raise issues about the APS/APT at the time, accounting shortfalls were occurring that he could not explain. There appears to be no indication that Post Office Ltd made any attempt to investigate other possible causes.” 

The CCRC said there are “real similarities” between Snow’s case and the successful 2021 Horizon appeals led by former subpostmaster and campaigner Jo Hamilton, with both cases blamed on “potentially unreliable data from Post Office systems”.

Baird added: “It will now be for the Court of Appeal to decide whether the conviction is unsafe and should be quashed.” 

The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).