In a significant revelation, the first tranche of a public inquiry’s final report has determined that UK Post Office executives should have recognized the flaws in the Horizon system. Despite this knowledge, they “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate” while prosecuting sub-postmasters.
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Chairman Wyn Williams stated that several senior officials within the organization were aware that the original system, known as Legacy Horizon, was error-prone until it was replaced in 2010. Moreover, many employees also recognized that the updated system, Horizon Online, contained its own bugs and defects.
Tragically, the report revealed that a total of 59 victims of the Horizon scandal contemplated suicide, with 10 individuals attempting to take their own lives. Mr. Williams emphasized there was a “real possibility” that 13 people may have taken their own lives due to the immense suffering endured throughout this ordeal.
The scandal captured widespread attention in January of last year following the airing of ITV’s drama, Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, featuring actor Toby Jones portraying Alan Bates, a former sub-postmaster and founder of the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance.
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells has faced allegations of overseeing numerous wrongful prosecutions and convictions during her tenure when it was suggested that the executives should have been aware of the issues plaguing the Horizon system.
Mr. Williams’s detailed 162-page report criticizes the “unnecessarily adversarial attitude” of the Post Office and its advisors towards compensation offers for victims, indicating that both the organization and the government “simply failed to grasp how difficult it would be to provide appropriate financial redress.” The inquiry found that approximately 1,000 individuals were wrongfully prosecuted and convicted across the UK between 1999 and 2015 due to faulty software from Fujitsu, with many facing significant mental health challenges as a result.
In his address, Mr. Williams highlighted the distressing experience sub-postmasters underwent, noting that they “will have been in wholly unfamiliar territory” and found the process “troubling at best and harrowing at worst.”
The focus of the first phase of the report centers on the devastating consequences of this scandal on the victims and the compensation available to the sub-postmasters. A subsequent report, expected to assign blame, will follow later.
As he teased his conclusions from the upcoming final report, which may take months to finalize, Mr. Williams stated, “Although many of the individuals who gave evidence before me were very reluctant to accept it, I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior, and not-so-senior employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least, should have known, that Legacy Horizon was capable of error.”
“Yet for all practical purposes, throughout the lifetime of Legacy Horizon, the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate,” he added.
Mr. Williams outlined a total of 19 recommendations, urging both the government and the Post Office to publicly clarify what constitutes “full and fair redress.” He also suggested that claimants applying for compensation through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme should be entitled to free legal advice.
Addressing criticisms surrounding the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, the chairman indicated that claimants should receive the fixed offer of £600,000, even if they submit their own detailed claims.
Furthermore, he called on the government to establish an independent public body to devise, administer, and deliver compensation for those wronged by the authorities.
The report anticipates that the number of individuals eligible to submit compensation claims as a result of the scandal may increase “by at least hundreds, if not more, over the coming months.”
In response, the Post Office issued a statement acknowledging, “The inquiry has brought to light the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. Today, we apologize unreservedly for the suffering caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations.”
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Edited By Ali Musa
Axadle Times International–Monitoring.
