[News] Post Office convictions quashed.

[Publius Ovidius]

Surely the management who gave evidence against those who were convicted committed perjury? The Post Office was told over and over that the software was shit but they still pursued the post office owners to the courts or to bankruptcy. Be good to see those that lied on oath banged up.

The should face trial and have their pensions taken off them.

This is absolutely disgusting

 

[nicko31]

A pregnant woman was sent to jail, another woman had her children taken away, and some of the accused/convicted wrongly have died. It was horrendous and all because the PO wouldn't admit their new software had a problem.

Shocking story that effected a lot of people, so long to sort it out...

 

[Bodian]

I've only just heard about this for the first time today, saw it on the BBC news this morning and just read about it online. Can't believe I've missed a story as big as this, has it been under-reported or have I just missed it?

Totally under reported. Been following this in Private Eye for years, and constantly astonished at what the PO were getting away with. And to date - the bigwigs have been rewarded rather than punished. Here's a detailed PE report from last year. https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf

 

[Farehamseagull]

And good post ruined by the last paragraph [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Why? Surely this case highlights why capital punishment is totally flawed and wrong when so many innocent people can be convicted of a crime they didn't commit?!

 

[essbee1]

It should have been blindingly obvious to PO management retards as soon as more than a few were deemed to be allegedly "defrauding" that a computer fault
was likely to be the blame. It makes me so angry to see people mistreated through sheer idiocy and incompetence.

 

[essbee1]

My brother knows someone who was accused and he had the option of walking from the job (and getting let off) or fighting it in post.
He could not stand the grief of the latter, so he walked. Utterly disgraceful.

 

[Fungus]

I've only just heard about this for the first time today, saw it on the BBC news this morning and just read about it online. Can't believe I've missed a story as big as this, has it been under-reported or have I just missed it?

I'm struggling to believe what I've just read though, it is absolutely scandalous. Those poor, poor people having to go through this over all these years. Thank god there is some justice now though I'm not sure any amount of compensation will make up for what they've had to go through. And I feel so incredibly sorry for those who died and their families with this still hanging over them.

And to think Priti Patel and some on here advocate bringing back the death penalty!

I used to read about it in the computer magazines at work, and I've been retired 8 years. It was well known as a cover-up way back then, and that the software could never be guaranteed as fault-free. The devastation was widely reported at the time, but I guess the reporting dropped off. A huge scandal all round.

 

[Argartu]

I forgot that the Eye dedicated a podcast episode to this charade, available to listen to here: https://www.private-eye.co.uk/podcast/49

 

[The Clamp]

Totally agree I’m surprised the Government hasn’t stepped in here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Pffft

What's in it for Boris?

 

[Chicken Run]

The government is facing huge legal costs. Not only was the Post Office publicly owned at the time of the scandal but the Department for Business is the subject of a complaint currently being investigated by the parliamentary ombudsman.

This story like others have said was unknown to me, when did this all happen?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Springal]

This story has been in fairly well reported in the last few years at least. Not front page stuff, but BBC news have been reporting on it reasonably well

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This story has been in fairly well reported in the last few years at least. Not front page stuff, but BBC news have been reporting on it reasonably well

Panorama covered it last year.

 

[beorhthelm]

It should have been blindingly obvious to PO management retards as soon as more than a few were deemed to be allegedly "defrauding" that a computer fault
was likely to be the blame. It makes me so angry to see people mistreated through sheer idiocy and incompetence.

it wouldnt be obvious when the computer system says otherwise, and those responsible for that system where naive of/hiding failures and inconsistencies. the system was built to show where there was fraud, as some fraud would be expected. as i recall the story, people in support knew there were faults but higher up were ignoring or dismissing the glitches. if you were lucky enough to contact the right people they could correct the errors, using process that wasnt supposed to be there (ie using a bug). the audit process was buggered, but treated as infalible, so if it showed an issue, an issue there must be. very sad that it was all solveable with simple acceptance the software wasnt error free.

 

[Rock Lobster]

A mate of mine sent me a link to the Private Eye podcast covering this a couple of years ago and have since heard about this from the POV of one of the affected postmasters on another podcast.
I'm far from an expert, but surely the defending lawyer could have produced evidence showing all the bank accounts belonging to the defendants to show the lack of these supposedly missing thousands of pounds going into their accounts?

 

[Lower West Stander]

This is what hacks me off about the press.

This is utterly scandalous - correct me if wrong but isn't the Post Office business still state owned? The Government should surely be paying massive compensation here and its the role of the press to keep this visible.

Yet one case of the Outer Mongolian variant and this will all be forgotten about for weeks.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

A mate of mine sent me a link to the Private Eye podcast covering this a couple of years ago and have since heard about this from the POV of one of the affected postmasters on another podcast.
I'm far from an expert, but surely the defending lawyer could have produced evidence showing all the bank accounts belonging to the defendants to show the lack of these supposedly missing thousands of pounds going into their accounts?

Bank accounts were scrutinised, homes were searched, marked bank notes planted etc but all ignored in the trials.

 

[essbee1]

it wouldnt be obvious when the computer system says otherwise, and those responsible for that system where naive of/hiding failures and inconsistencies. the system was built to show where there was fraud, as some fraud would be expected. as i recall the story, people in support knew there were faults but higher up were ignoring or dismissing the glitches. if you were lucky enough to contact the right people they could correct the errors, using process that wasnt supposed to be there (ie using a bug). the audit process was buggered, but treated as infalible, so if it showed an issue, an issue there must be. very sad that it was all solveable with simple acceptance the software wasnt error free.

Ah ok, Beor, if the messages were there but being ignored, then that's a different matter.

 

[Snowflake]

I know I am a Snowflake, but I had a tear in my eye seeing some of those cleared being interviewed. You can see they have been utterly destroyed.

I have been following it and it's scandalous how difficult and long it's been to clear their names. I thought I heard it reported that this is only 39 of about 700 odd convicted. I am sure someone will correct me.

I would love to see the others automatically get cleared without going through this crap. I am sure there is a legal reason not to, but surely the government can speed it along.

 

[Billy the Fish]

A mate of mine sent me a link to the Private Eye podcast covering this a couple of years ago and have since heard about this from the POV of one of the affected postmasters on another podcast.
I'm far from an expert, but surely the defending lawyer could have produced evidence showing all the bank accounts belonging to the defendants to show the lack of these supposedly missing thousands of pounds going into their accounts?

Bank accounts were scrutinised, homes were searched, marked bank notes planted etc but all ignored in the trials.

I was wondering this. Surely if there was such a big doubt over the evidence the judiciary should take a slice of the blame?

 

[Badger Boy]

I really haven't understood this story so maybe someone can correct my understanding?

These people were accused of stealing thousands of pounds but surely a good audit would have shown that was not the case and that the money didn't ever exist? Surely their daily figures would very strictly show the movement of all transactions and they would be able to track the closing position each day and pinpoint when the books were last correct. Which makes it easier to pinpoint any discrepancies? I can't understand why they weren't able to show all transactions were correctly logged and accounted and that no money was actually missing. Alternatively, surely the individuals could have shown that they didn't have any of the additional cash which was allegedly missing?