Post office scandal ‘a new Watergate'

THE Post Office and the Government carried out a cover­up bigger than Watergate over a flawed computer system t at saw hundreds of sub­ postmasters wrongly prosecuted and thousands lose their livelihoods, say campaigners.

- Tony Whitfield

THE Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) said the battle was only half­won after the High Court on Friday quashed the criminal convic­tions of 39 men and women for stealing money from the Post Office, adding to six whose convictions were overturned in December.

JFSA said the lives of around 4,000 postmasters were ruined in one of Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice and now the fight is to get them finan­cial redress.

It called for a public inquiry after accusing the Government of backing the Post Office in its victimisation of staff and ignoring warnings of flaws in the Horizon IT system which man­ aged post offices’ finances.