Second faulty Post Office IT system identified by experts

A second Post Office IT system could have caused shortfalls for subpostmasters prior to the Horizon scandal that led to Britain’s most widespread miscarriage of justice, an independent investigation has found.

- NINA LLOYD

The Capture software was rolled out across some 13.5 per cent of branches from 1993 onwards. Several subpostmasters told the investigation by Kroll, a risk advisory firm, that although they reported issues with the system to their managers, these were not followed up by the Post Office or taken into account in audits and probes.

Some were subsequently prosecuted, although the independent report did not make any conclusions about the safety of criminal convictions.

One subpostmaster who was convicted and has since died reported the shortfalls to the Capture help desk but was reportedly told to wait for the system to be rebalanced, according to interview evidence from a surviving relative.

There was a “high capacity” for errors to go undetected, the report said, because of a burden placed on subpostmasters to implement fixes and a reliance on communications from the Post Office to identify bugs.

“We consider that, based on available evidence, there was a reasonable likelihood that Capture could have created shortfalls for subpostmasters,” the Kroll report concluded.