The issue involving the Post Office is broken down: what the Horizon saga is all about

Sub-postmasters who were victims of what has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in the United Kingdom will be cleared and compensated to the extent that new legislation allows. Following the discovery of faulty software that indicated money was missing from Post Office branch accounts, hundreds of people were wrongfully punished. This coming Tuesday marks the beginning of the next stage of a public investigation into what went wrong.

What is the scandal surrounding the Post Office Horizon?

As a result of inaccurate information obtained from a computer system known as Horizon, more than 900 sub-postmasters were brought to justice for theft. Between the years 1999 and 2015, the Post Office alone brought a large number of cases to court, prosecuting in total of 700 individuals. Additional cases totaling 283 were brought up by various other authorities, one of which was the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In addition to being imprisoned for stealing and false accounting, several sub-postmasters were also financially destroyed as a result of their actions.

Over five hundred and fifty sub-postmasters filed a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service in the year 2017. In 2019, it reached an agreement to compensate them with £58 million, however, a significant portion of the money was spent on legal fees. Despite being aware that the group’s defense was not true, the Post Office spent one hundred million pounds fighting the group in court, according to a draft report that was discovered by the BBC. In response to the report, the Post Office stated that it would be “inappropriate” to comment on it.

Despite the fact that protesters were successful in obtaining the opportunity to have their cases examined, by the middle of January 2024, just 95 convictions had been reversed. Regarding the affair, the Criminal Cases Review Commission referred to it as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice” that it had ever witnessed.The Metropolitan Police Department is looking into a scandal involving the Post Office.

The public inquiry into the Post Office Horizon is what exactly?

In February of 2021, a public investigation was initiated, and since then, workers of Fujitsu and the Post Office have provided testimony. The proceedings are scheduled to resume on Tuesday, April 9th, and among the individuals who are scheduled to testify are campaigner Alan Bates, former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells, and politicians who were in charge of the Post Office. This fifth phase of the investigation is anticipated to take a number of weeks to complete. In January of 2024, the drama series Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office was broadcast on ITV. The series was inspired by Mr. Bates, who served as the inspiration. The government made an announcement a few days later regarding new measures to clear and compensate people who were affected.