More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from a computer system called Horizon.
The Post Office itself took many cases to court, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015. Another 283 cases were brought by other bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service. Many sub-postmasters went to prison for false accounting and theft, and several were financially ruined.
In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office. In 2019, it agreed to pay them £58m in compensation, but much of the money went on legal fees. A draft report uncovered by the showed the Post Office spent £100m fighting the group in court despite knowing its defence was untrue. The Post Office said it would be”inappropriate” to comment on the report.
Although campaigners won the right for their cases to be reconsidered, only 95 convictions had been overturned by mid-January 2024.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission said the scandal was “the most widespread miscarriage of justice” it had seen.
The Metropolitan Police is also investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences.
