New legislation is set to clear the names of 26 postmasters from Northern Ireland who were wrongly accused and convicted in the Post Office scandal. A lot of sub-postmasters across the United Kingdom were prosecuted because of a fault in the computer software which calculated money missing from post office branches. This resulted in many being financially ruined, and some even going to prison. It has been referred to as the biggest example of injustice in UK history.
The new legislation means that postmasters in Northern Ireland will be given the option of accepting a fixed sum offer of £600,000 after their conviction is quashed. Kevin Hollinrake, the UK minister for enterprise, markets, and small business has revealed that it has become clear that Northern Ireland does not have the ability to rapidly address the 26 convictions known to be within its purview. Due to this, postmasters in Northern Ireland could have their convictions quashed later than those in England and Wales which is an unacceptable delay.
The Northern Ireland first and deputy first ministers and justice minister had previously called for the law to reverse the convictions of sub-postmasters to also apply in Northern Ireland. In a statement released on Monday, the First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the decision to amend the bill is “the fastest, and fairest solution for all”. Emma Little-Pengelly, the deputy first minister also hopes that those affected will take some comfort in the fact there will be no further delays in overturning their convictions.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had earlier informed the House of Commons in January that those previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law. The Scottish government also announced similar plans for those convicted in Scotland, which has a separate legal system. Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses based on data from faulty Horizon software. A further 283 cases were brought by different bodies including the Crown Prosecution Service
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