Victim of Post Office scandal says he had no doubt there was faults with the system
A former subpostmaster who has had his conviction overturned has told UTV he "always knew he would see the smiles wiped off the faces of Post Office officials".
Out of 700 wrongly convicted during the Post Office fraud scandal, only 93 have had their convictions overturned.
Alan McLaughlin said: "I always thought the smirks they had on their faces would be removed at some point.
"I didn't think it would take 20 years but whatever, we are where we are."
The postmaster from Northern Ireland said he had no doubt there were faults with the system.
The Post Office Horizon IT scandal has come under the spotlight following the release of ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
More than 700 Post Office branch managers were given criminal convictions after faulty Fujitsu accounting software called Horizon made it appear as though money was missing from their shops.
The accused ended up with criminal records and punishments ranging from community service to prison time, with many people left bankrupt and some taking or attempting to take their own lives.
A public inquiry into the scandal began in 2021. It was due to be completed by August 2022 but is still ongoing and is now set to be complete this year.
On Sunday, Rishi Sunak confirmed a report that Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is considering ways of helping to clear the names of convicted subpostmasters caught up in the scandal.
The prime minister said the government was “keen to do everything we can because this was absolutely appalling” and should “never have happened”.
It is likely that most victims of the scandal will receive money to compensate them for what they have been through.
Around £138 million has been paid out to around 2,700 subpostmasters across three compensation schemes, the Post Office recently said, but hundreds of others are still waiting for their payouts.
The government announced in September that every Post Office worker whose wrongful convictions were overturned will be offered £600,000 in compensation
Paula Vennells was the chief executive of the Post Office between 2012 and 2019, while it continually denied there were issues with the Horizon IT system.
More than a million people have signed a petition calling for Ms Vennells to be stripped of her CBE, which she received in 2019 for services to the Post Office.
It is possible for Ms Vennells to lose her honour, if it is advised by the government's Forfeiture Committee and then approved by the King.
Rishi Sunak has said he would "strongly support" the committee if it decided to look at revoking Ms Vennells' CBE.
Reasons listed for an honour to be removed include being found "guilty of a criminal offence, behaviour which results in censure by a regulatory or a professional body, or any other behaviour that is deemed to bring the honours system into disrepute."
The Post Office drama is available to watch on ITVX.
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