Post Office statement on Historical Convictions – potential future appeals

Post Office said today that it is contacting people it previously prosecuted - mainly former postmasters - to assist them in potentially appealing their historical convictions. This follows an extensive review of relevant historical prosecutions brought by Post Office since 1999, which has been conducted by criminal law specialists, Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP.

To date, a total of 45 historical convictions related to previous versions of the Post Office’s computer system Horizon have been overturned by the Courts in unopposed appeals following their referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). A number of other cases are awaiting Court listings and hearings.

Post Office no longer undertakes any private prosecutions. Cases related to Horizon effectively ceased in 2013, although two cases prosecuted in 2015 relied on Horizon data (the two people concerned are also being contacted).

A Post Office spokesperson said:

“The Post Office sincerely apologises for serious historical failures. We continue to take determined action for people affected.

“In addition to full co-operation with the CCRC’s review, Post Office has made strenuous efforts to identify individuals who were historically convicted and an extensive post-conviction disclosure exercise is taking place to identify and disclose all material which might affect the safety of those convictions.”

The post-conviction disclosure exercise focuses on Post Office’s conduct of prosecutions since 1999 which relied on evidence from the Horizon computer system and examines Post Office’s failures to fairly investigate and disclose problems with Horizon to people who operated or worked in Post Office branches who were prosecuted for offences such as theft, fraud and false accounting. The post-conviction disclosure exercise commenced in January 2020 and has involved more than 60 barristers reviewing millions of documents to identify any material that should be disclosed to those historically prosecuted.

To date, the review has examined around 4.5 million documents, and thousands of physical and electronic sources have been interrogated. In addition, Peters & Peters liaised with a number of third parties including Fujitsu Services Limited, Royal Mail Group, the Courts, the CCRC and approximately 50 law firms and agents historically instructed by Post Office to obtain material relevant to the convictions.

Post Office is contacting former Postmasters and people who worked in a Post Office branch whose convictions may be affected. Disclosure relevant to their cases will be provided, together with information about how they might take forward an appeal if they wish to do so.

Any person who was prosecuted by Post Office or Royal Mail Group after July 1999 and who believes the prosecution case relied on Horizon evidence, can contact disclosure@postoffice.co.uk .

Ends

Notes to editors

Post Office is currently contacting around 540 people with potentially relevant convictions, following the extensive search of historical records as above. Around a further 100 have been identified where additional information is being sought. Post Office urges anybody who believes that they may have a relevant case to come forward.

Cases arising from convictions in Magistrates’ Courts must be appealed to the Crown Court. To date such appeals have been heard by Southwark Crown Court. Convictions in Crown Courts are heard by the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).

In cases to date, the Post Office has supported the overturning of convictions in 45 cases. It has opposed three cases and the Court of Appeal upheld the safety of those convictions.