Law to exonerate wronged subpostmasters introduced

A law aimed at quashing the wrongful convictions of subpostmasters caught up in the Horizon IT scandal is being introduced by the government today.

- SOPHIE WINGATE

The proposed Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill "marks an important step forward in finally clearing" the names of hundreds of wronged branch managers who have had their lives “callously torn apart", prime minister Rishi Sunak said.

The legislation will exonerate those convicted in England and Wales on the basis of the faulty Horizon accounting software in what has been branded the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history. Those with overturned convictions will receive an interim payment with the option of immediately taking a fixed and final offer of £600,000, according to No 10.

Mr Sunak said: “I want to pay tribute to all the postmasters who have shown such courage and perseverance in their fierce campaign for justice, and to those who tragically won’t see the justice they deserve. 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. We owe it to the victims of this scandal who have had their lives and livelihoods callously torn apart, to deliver the justice they’ve fought so long and hard for, and to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”