_{Pic: PA and BBC}

Victory for the 39 former postmasters as Judge quashes their convictions in multi-million pound scandal 

The 39 postmasters who were wrongfully convicted of fraud by the Post Office’s dodgy Horizon computer system have had their convictions overturned today. At the Royal Courts of Justice in London today, Lord Justice Holroyde said the Post Office knew about the dodgy computer system and should have sorted it out and not falsely accused the Post Office staff.

Horizon

Horizon kept insisting they were stealing thousands in cash from their own Post Offices but the system was faulty and so gave false readings. The managers however insisted the system was accurate and then pursued the postmasters through the courts with many of them convicted of fraud. Some went to jail, most lost their businesses and all had their lives destroyed with massive emotional upsets.

A number of journalists including Nick Wallis, Private Eye and the BBC's Panorama team who doggedly championed the postmasters and went after the Post Office to get the truth out. And ICSM played its part in highlighting the scandal with articles echoing the work of the journalists who uncovered the scandal.

Post Office in trouble

ICSM’s Ian Carrotte said that if anyone should have been punished it should have been the managers and their superiors. He said: “In court, the Rt Hon Justice Fraser criticised testimony given by Angela van den Bogerd who was the Head of Partnerships at the Post Office saying, ‘you did not give me frank evidence, and sought to obfuscate matters, and mislead me.’

“I also think the CEO of the Post Office has a lot to answer as it was well known Horizon was faulty and the postmasters were incorrectly charged with fraud but instead of coming clean they covered their tracks by destroying the paper trail. It has backfired on the Post Office as they can now expect massive compensation claims from the victims.”

He said the Post Office needed to admit lives were destroyed, mothers ripped from their children and taken to prison and sound businesses ruined. These are the names of the 39 who had their convictions quashed: Josephine Hamilton, Hughie Thomas, Allison Henderson, Alison Hall, Gail Ward, Julian Wilson, Jacqueline McDonald, Tracy Felstead, Janet Skinner, Scott Darlington, Seema Misra, Della Robinson, Khayyam Ishaq, David Thomas Hedges, Peter Anthony Holmes, Rubina Shaheen, Damien Owen, Mohammed Rasul, Wendy Buffrey, Kashmir Gill, Barry Capon, Vijay Parekh, Lynette Hutchings, Dawn O'Connell, Carl Page, Lisa Brennan, William Graham, Siobhan Sayer, Pauline Thomson, Tim Burgess, Nicholas Clark, Margery Williams, Tahir Mahmood, Ian Warren, David Yates, Harjinder Butoy, Gillian Howard, David Blakey and Pamela Lock.

About ICSM Credit

ICSM Credit has more than four decades of experience as a credit intelligence group whose members gain inside information about firms in trouble allowing them to avoid bad debts and rogue traders. To join costs less than a tank of fuel - while at the moment there's a special free temporary membership offer during the Covid-19 crisis which gives access to free legal letters. ICSM also has an effective debt collecting service which has a global reach - ask for details from Paul.

For details about ICSM Credit call 0844 854 1850 or visit the website www.icsmcredit.com or email Ian at Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com on how to subscribe and to join the UK’s credit intelligence network to avoid bad debts and late payers. Follow ICSM Credit on FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube and Ian Carrotte on LinkedIn.

To keep up to date subscribe to the FREE ICSM Credit Newsletter to hear all the latest insolvency news and to see who has gone out of business click on the orange panel on the top left of the home page of the website www.icsmcredit.com or send an email to Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com

For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk