The law firm representing 100 former subpostmasters who suffered the life-changing effects of being blamed for unexplained shortfalls on the computer system used in their branches before the Post Office rolled out the Horizon IT system, said there have been “positive steps” towards fair redress.
Former users of the Post Office’s Capture software, like those that had the controversial Horizon system, were blamed for losses, made to pay them back and even prosecuted by the Post Office.
In the latest meeting between the Department of Business and Trade and former Capture users – held as part of the government’s plan to offer financial redress – there were positive signs, according to lawyer Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors.
“Obviously, everything needs ministerial sign-off and approval, but, quite rightly, there is a clear willingness to do right by those who have suffered at the hands of the Post Office in relation to Capture,” he said.
He added that there was also progress on having convictions reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). “We’ve spoken with the CCRC today and those cases are moving forward, though of course there is a lot of work to be done in terms of securing further information required,” said Hudgell.
The controversy over the Capture system emerged in January last year after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office told the stories of subpostmasters that had suffered at the hands of the Horizon system.
It was the same month that Kevan Jones, an MP at the time who now sits in the House of Lords, highlighted evidence of injustices caused by the Capture computer system used in Post Office branches prior to the introduction of Horizon.
Echoes of Horizon
Jones had visited a subpostmaster who he thought may be a victim of Horizon, but when he realised the dates involved, it became clear another system could be at fault.
Since the drama put the scandal at the centre of national debate, successive governments have been forced to act. In May 2024, the former Conservative government introduced legislation to exonerate about 900 former Horizon users who were convicted based on evidence from Fujitsu’s faulty system.
Now the CCRC is reviewing 21 cases of potential wrongful conviction put forward by Hudgells, where Capture could be a factor. This is an increase from 17 just weeks ago and from five in November last year.
Capture was a PC-based application developed by the Post Office and uploaded onto a personal computer to carry out branch accounts. The software was a standalone system, unlike Horizon, which is a complex, networked system connected to centralised services.
One of the subpostmasters who came forward after the ITV dramatisation was Steve Marston. He had a branch in Bury, Lancashire, and was prosecuted in 1996 for theft and false accounting following an unexplained shortfall of nearly £80,000. Marston said he never had any problems using the paper-based accounting system until his branch, which he ran from 1973, began using Capture.
After an audit revealed a loss which he couldn’t fully cover out of his own pocket, he was advised to plead guilty of theft and fraud to avoid jail. The judge took into account two bravery awards Marston had received for standing up to armed robbers, saving him a jail sentence. He received a 12-month suspended sentence, lost his home and business, and went bankrupt.
Another life-destroying case is that of Steve Lewis from South Wales, who had worked for the Post Office since 1983, originally as a counter clerk, and was a Post Office auditor for a number of years.
When he suffered unexplained losses, he was told by the Post Office that he was an isolated case. He lost his business, had to sell his home and suffered mental health issues, with related relationship troubles.
More cases come forward
Thousands of subpostmasters used Capture and more and more cases with glaring similarities to those related to Horizon are coming to light.
A Kent subpostmistress who was convicted of theft from her branch in the 1990s is one of a new wave whose families are fighting to clear their names.
Patricia Owen was convicted in 1998 of theft from her Post Office branch in Canterbury, over a shortfall of £6,000. Hers is one of the 21 cases Hudgell Solicitors have put forward to the CCRC.
Owen, who died in 2003, denied the charges against her but was found guilty on five counts of theft. She received a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Owen’s daughter Juliet said: “I remember them sitting us down and telling us that mum was being prosecuted and that they had to go to court. We managed to get an independent computer expert to look over everything and he said there were malfunctions with the software, so we were hopeful ahead of the court case. The expert didn’t turn up on the day, and we never found out why.”
Peter Lloyd-Holt, who died aged 75 in 2021, was sacked in 1994 from his role as a subpostmaster in Bolton after accounts at his branch showed unexplained shortfalls.
His wife Agnes, who worked as an investigator for the Department of Work and Pensions at the time he was sacked, said life was never the same. “That was the beginning of the end,” she said.
“He was interviewed under caution without representation. I was contacted but not allowed to attend. He was eventually told in March 1995 that he wasn’t going to be prosecuted, but he was still held responsible for the shortfalls and we were made to pay back a considerable sum.
“I had to work overtime to pay the mortgage and to pay back what the Post Office alleged we owed them, and that meant we suffered financial hardship as there had to be cut backs,” she added.
Lloyd-Holt’s son, Paul, said: “What happened to my father destroyed him. When my dad was interviewed he submitted all his documentation and evidence to clear his name, ledgers and dockets and spreadsheets, but they were never returned, so there is little evidence available to us to clear his name.
“Any evidence like bank statements have been lost over time, so we need the support of the solicitors to do this. He never could move on though, it always cast a shadow over his life, and our lives as a family. Now, we’re in a position where we only have our own memories, and we are having to contact many organisations and bodies to see what extra evidence we can uncover.”
The Post Office Horizon scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to accounting software.
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