Hundreds of innocent Post Office branch managers wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting as a result of flaws in an IT system will be exonerated by landmark legislation introduced today in Parliament
The Government has announced that affected sub-postmasters would receive an interim payment and the option of a final offer of £600,000 so they could finally begin to rebuild their lives.
The government said it would also compensate sub-postmasters who were not convicted but who still suffered due to failures in the Horizon IT system, with an option to receive £75,000.
Rishi Sunak paid tribute to all of the postmasters who had shown courage and perseverance in their fierce campaign for justice.
“While I know that nothing can make up for what they’ve been through, today’s legislation marks an important step forward in finally clearing their names,
There are however concerns that while the law to quash 700 convictions is a huge and welcome step, is it fair to exclude the dozen cases that have already lost on appeal?
Meanwhile the blanket exoneration of wrongly convicted subpostmasters will only apply in England and Wales and Scotland’s Justice Secretary is calling for UK-wide legislation.
The Government has indicated that it hops the legislation will come into force by July of this year and
