Court of Appeal quashes 39 convictions in Horizon IT case

The full ruling by the Court of Appeal judges was published today and the court also upheld the safety of convictions in three cases.

The postmasters were convicted of stealing money, with some imprisoned, after the Horizon computer system in branches.

The Post Office, which announced in October 2020 that it would not oppose the appeals, has “sincerely apologised for serious failures in its historical conduct of prosecutions of postmasters”.

Post Office chairman, Tim Parker, said: “The Post Office is extremely sorry for the impact on the lives of these postmasters and their families that was caused by historical failures. Post Office stopped prosecutions soon after its separation from Royal Mail a decade ago and has throughout this appeals process supported the overturning of the vast majority of convictions.

“We are contacting other postmasters and Post Office workers with criminal convictions from past private Post Office prosecutions that may be affected, to assist them to appeal should they wish. Post Office continues to reform its operations and culture to ensure such events can never happen again.”

Post Office chief executive, Nick Read, added: “The quashing of historical convictions is a vital milestone in fully and properly addressing the past as I work to put right these wrongs as swiftly as possible and there must be compensation that reflects what has happened.

“In addition, since arriving at the Post Office 18 months ago, my focus has been on resetting the culture at the Post Office and forging a substantive partnership with our postmasters. We are determined that they must come first in everything we do because without them there is no Post Office. We must transform the Post Office so that it can continue to provide essential services in local communities across the UK.”