Victims of a second
Scandal erupts at the Post Office IT system
have awaited over three decades to be
compensated for wrongful prosecutions
and lost their means of support – but they are still awaiting approval from the Treasury for the payments.
A reimbursement plan for sub-postmasters who are thought to have
Lost funds while utilizing Capture — an accounting system.
introduced at various locations during the 1990s prior to the infamous
Horizon programme
— has ultimately been settled with the Government.
Nonetheless, victims are still awaiting approval from the Treasury before they can proceed with their claims or apply for a temporary “recognition” payment of up to £10,000 — even though they have cautioned that “time is against us,” particularly as some are now in their eighties.
Some victims have
died before seeing justice
.
In a
prelude to the Horizon scandal
Although Capture was susceptible to bugs and malfunctions, sub-postmasters were compelled to pay out of pocket, dismissed from their positions, and in certain instances, subjected to criminal charges by the Post Office due to discrepancies in accounting.
As a result of
a long-running investigation
by
The i Paper
Last year, the government initiated an independent assessment of Capture, which concluded that sub-postmasters probably experienced inexplicable financial shortfalls due to the software issues.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has subsequently met with victims who were informed about receiving reparations. Last week, they outlined the structure and extent of the Compensation scheme aimed at those affected by Capture issues, distinct from the £1 billion allocated for Horizon-related damages.
Although sub-postmasters will need to file their own claims, these submissions will align with a tiered system. The government plans to provide an early “acknowledgment” payment of up to £10,000 as an advance.
The plan has been approved but still needs the final endorsement from authorities in Whitehall.
The i Paper
understands.
Steve Marston, aged 69, was found guilty of theft and accounting offenses in a Post Office lawsuit back in 1998. Despite his insistence that he “never stole a penny,” he was convicted.
He was at the meeting with DBT officials in London and said: “I did impress on them again that time is our enemy. We have one person from the Capture cohort in hospital with pneumonia and another in his eighties with cancer.”
It is likewise anticipated that the initial one will be
28 criminal convictions with links to Capture evidence
, which is under review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), might be brought before the Court of Appeal as early as this autumn.
“It’s vital to get convictions overturned,” Mr Marston said.
During the gathering, those who had been captured were guaranteed that the government would approve “any required amounts” to ensure they receive adequate compensation.
“There shouldn’t be any difference to Horizon payments,” Mr Marston added. “I think they intend it to be a lot more streamlined. And where people don’t have much evidence they are going to take the word of the postmaster.”
How many people were prosecuted under Capture?
Capture was first rolled out in 1992 and is thought to have been used in at least 2,500 Post Office branches.
The software was created internally by the Post Office; however, documents were shared with
The i Paper
Last year witnessed the IT team frequently issuing communiqués acknowledging bugs that had the potential to lead to accounting inaccuracies.
Despite this, the Post Office investigation division decided to blame sub-postmasters for financial shortages and proceeded to take legal action against them in both civil and criminal court proceedings.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that the Post Office
conducted over 200 private prosecutions
During the three years following the introduction of Capture.
A representative from the Department for Business and Trade stated: “The postmasters have already faced immense hardship, and we remain attentive to those recounting their experiences through the Capture system. Guaranteeing that postmasters are respected and valued remains our top priority.”
Representatives convened with postmasters as part of our pledge to create a robust and equitable complaint resolution system for those impacted by Capture. Updates regarding the progress of this compensation framework will be provided moving forward.
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‘My mother was devastated by the second Post Office scandal – we cannot afford to wait years for justice.’
A representative from CCRC stated, “After examining the cases detailed in the Kroll report—which was an independent inquiry into Capture—we are currently assessing two instances wherein there were criminal convictions in England and Wales, with evidence suggesting that Capture played a role.”
We are presently examining an additional 26 cases to ascertain if Capture was involved in these convictions.
We keep collaborating with the Department for Business and Trade along with the Post Office to pinpoint additional instances where Capture might have been involved.
Examining criminal cases from many years ago poses significant challenges due to the limited records still accessible. Nonetheless, we urge individuals who think their own criminal conviction or that of a family member could have been influenced by the Capture system to reach out to us.
In March, the Post Office offered a significant apology to the family of a Capture victim, marking their first such acknowledgment linked to the defective IT system.
The organization dispatched a letter to the husband of June Tooby, an ex-sub-postmistress who had been engaged in a long-standing dispute with the Post Office regarding funds allegedly unaccounted for at her office in the Northeast region.
The i Paper
first covered her story
in February last year.
In the letter, the Post Office acknowledged for the first time that there were “substantial shortcomings” in Capture. Simon Recaldin, who leads the Remediation Unit at the Post Office, informed Ken Tooby: “I am writing to apologize genuinely and unequivocally to you, both on behalf of the organization and myself.”
It is evident from the work done by previous postmasters and their families that substantial issues existed within the Post Office concerning the Capture system.
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