Post office disclosure failings
A senior lawyer for the Post Office talked of dissuading accused postmasters from jumping on the 'bandwagon’ of attacking the Horizon computer system, it has emerged.
In a 92-page judgment in Hamilton & Others v Post Office Limited, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of 39 former postmasters after they were wrongly found to have stolen money from the Post Office. Some of those convicted went to prison, lost their homes and were shunned by their communities. Three of those wrongly convicted have not lived to see the outcome of their appeals.
The convictions were based on the faulty Horizon computer system installed in Post Office branches, and the judgment sets out efforts made before and after the prosecutions to discredit any attempt to criticise the technology.
In his ruling, Lord Justice Holroyde revealed that the court had been shown previously unseen material by the Post Office. These documents showed that, after the prosecutions, a barrister employed by a firm of solicitors instructed by the Post Office had questioned statements from an expert witness, saying there was nothing wrong with Horizon.
