The Horizon scandal was an absolute disgrace, and the Post Office should be utterly ashamed of its appalling treatment of innocent postmasters and postmistresses. The baseless accusations against hard-working pillars of the community devastated lives, and the impact is still being felt now.
Compensation is already being paid to people whose criminal convictions have been overturned, but too many others are still waiting to clear their names and get the money they deserve. I’m pleased the Justice Secretary and Business Minister have worked on new proposals to speed up the process and look forward to hearing details very soon.
Over the past few years, the Government has rightly held an inquiry into the scandal, which has published its interim findings and recommendations (details can be read here). When I served on the Commons Justice Committee, we conducted our own investigation into private prosecutions such as those in the Horizon affair. We were shocked by what we heard about the way the Post Office had behaved, and called for much stronger safeguards. The supplier of the IT software, Fujitsu, also has many questions still to answer.
ITV’s drama has shone a fresh light on the Horizon scandal and underlined the urgency of achieving justice for the postmasters and postmistresses who have been wrongly punished for crimes they did not commit.
