As part of the Post Office Horizon scandal, sub-postmasters in Scotland who were wrongly convicted have been automatically exonerated with the passing of emergency legislation by the Scottish Parliament which received Royal Assent and came into effect on Friday. The legislation indicates that anyone convicted of fraud, embezzlement, or theft in connection with Post Office business between the years 1996 and 2018 have been acquitted of all charges and are eligible for compensation. A corresponding law in England and Wales had been introduced in March earlier this year.
Around 900 sub-postmasters across the UK were persecuted for crimes of dishonesty or forced to balance their accounts from their savings or loans as a result of a faulty computer system called Horizon. The Horizon scandal has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in recent times in the country. A public inquiry is currently underway.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) had contacted 73 potential victims of the Horizon scandal in Scotland last year. As of March 2024, 19 people had come forward to have their convictions reviewed; eight of those cases had been referred to court, and seven people had been cleared of charges so far, including Caren Lorimer and her posthumously quashed conviction this week.
Unlike in England, in Scotland, the responsibility of prosecuting Horizon cases rested solely with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). The Scottish government will work with the COPFS, the Post Office, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission to inform all those affected and amend police and court records accordingly. Sub-postmasters will also receive an open letter from Justice Secretary Angela Constance, outlining the next steps.
Compensation can’t mend the broken lives of the past, and no amount of it can fully restore the victims of this miscarriage of justice back to their former selves, Constance noted. She further stated that she will write to those who have suffered as a result of this scandal to confirm that their convictions have been overturned and court records altered so that justice can be served as quickly as possible
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