Ministers looking to speed up overturning of Horizon scandal convictions
Ministers are drawing up plans to hasten the clearing of the names of those wrongfully convicted in the Horizon scandal, ITV News Political Correspondent Shehab Khan reports
Ministers are investigating ways to speed up the overturning of wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters under the Horizon scandal.
Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told MPs he expected the government to unveil a solution shortly, after holding talks with Justice Secretary Alex Chalk on Monday.
Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells was coming under greater pressure over her CBE after Rishi Sunak signalled he would support a committee looking into the honour.
The prime minister said he would "strongly support" a probe into whether Ms Vennells should be stripped of her CBE over her involvement in the Horizon scandal which saw more than 700 Post Office staff wrongly convicted of fraud and theft.
The prime minister's official spokesman said Mr Sunak would back the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it decided to consider revoking her CBE after more than 1,047,000 signed a petition demanding it do so.
Mr Sunak, speaking at an event in Accrington, also said the government will "do everything" it can for those affected by the scandal but sidestepped a question on whether he would allow a mass appeal for exonerations.
It comes following the release of Mr Bates vs the Post Office, an ITV drama about the scandal, which has sparked outrage with its story of how more than 700 staff members were wrongly convicted of fraud and theft.
A faulty computer system named Horizon was eventually found to be behind discrepancies in the company's finances but the Post Office denied this was the case and between 1999 and 2015 and prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has accused the Post Office of lying to him on an “industrial scale” as he comes under pressure over the scandal.
Sir Ed has been facing fresh scrutiny over his role as postal affairs minister in the coalition government. He is also facing increasing Conservative attacks about his ministerial role between 2010 and 2012.
He told broadcasters on Monday: “I wish I had known then what we all know now, the Post Office was lying on an industrial scale to me and other ministers.”
Sir Ed said it was “clear they were all lying to me” as he put the concerns of campaigning former sub-postmaster Alan Bates to officials.
“My heart goes out to all those people, we need to make sure their convictions are overturned and we need to make sure they are fairly compensated, and quickly,” he said
Mr Sunak defended the government’s response to the Horizon scandal but said he wanted to speed up the compensation process.
He said those caught up in it had faced an “absolutely appalling miscarriage of justice” and “we should do everything we can to make it right” but did not respond directly when asked if all convictions should be quashed.
Just 93 sub-postmasters have so far been exonerated and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the remaining convictions "need to be looked at en masse".
The prime minister confirmed Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and the Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake were meeting to see if there is “more we can do to speed up some of those processes”.
“We will do everything we can to make this right for the people affected. It is simply wrong what happened, they shouldn’t have been treated like this.”
Labour leader Sir Keir, speaking during a visit in Loughborough, said: “I think that the prosecution should be taken out of the hands of the Post Office and given to the Crown Prosecution Service.
“I used to run the Crown Prosecution Service, we’ve prosecuted for other departments, we can do it here – that should be done straight away.
“And these convictions, the remaining convictions need to be looked at en masse.”
The Horizon scandal has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history. A public inquiry into it is ongoing.
Both Labour and Conservative politicians have been calling for victims to be exonerated as quickly as possible, with Tory MP David Davis telling ITV News it's time to "take action".
Mr Davis said: "I think probably there are ten million furious people out there now having watched and read about this.
"The MPs, even if it's just in their own interest, will need to reflect that their own constituents are saying for heaven's sake get this fixed, for heaven's sake do something about this."
On Sunday, the prime minister told broadcasters: “It has been an appalling miscarriage of justice and appalling treatment of all the people affected and it is right that they get the redress that they deserve.
“The justice secretary is also looking at other options for how we can provide support for people.”
Scotland Yard said on Friday that officers are “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”, for example “monies recovered from subpostmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”.
Last week, Mr Sunak declined to say whether Ms Vennells should lose her honour, while Labour leader Sir Keir stressed that compensation for victims is “overdue”.
Watch the trailer for ITV's Mr Bates vs the Post Office
The Labour leader also said all convictions in the Horizon scandal need to be revisited.
He told broadcasters: “I think all the convictions need to be looked at because there’s a root cause of the problem here.
“The government could pass legislation, so obviously we’d support that if they did.
“It might be possible to get these cases back before the Court of Appeal quickly – I’ve done that when I was a prosecutor – but whichever way it’s done, these convictions need to be looked at.
“But in addition to that, to stop it happening again, take the prosecuting role out of the Post Office and give it to the Crown Prosecution Service. So you’ve got an independent prosecutor looking at these cases in future.
“But also that compensation has been allowed for by the Treasury, has been set aside, pay it to the victims, because the human impact on them has been huge.”
Postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake last week added to calls for Ms Vennells to lose her CBE, telling ITV’s Good Morning Britain last week that she should “seriously consider handing that back voluntarily”.
It is the Honors Forfeiture Committee, chaired by Health Department Permanent Secretary Chris Wormald, which would decide whether to remove Ms Vennells' CBE.
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