New Post Office scandal report calls for ‘swift action’ over software comparisons with Horizon

A lawyer representing people affected by the post office’s “second IT scandal” said they “must not” fight a “long and hard fight for acquittal and compensation.”

Today’s report says there is a “reasonable likelihood” that Capture software “caused shortages” among postal managers before the Horizon scandal.

The system, which was the predecessor of Horizon, has been implemented in branches since 1993.

Some investigation into the Horizon Mail accounting system heard that more than 900 postmasters were wrongly prosecuted and convicted because the IT system made it appear as if their branches were short of money.

At least 40 former postmasters say they, too, were falsely accused of theft as a result of “bugs” in Capture.

An independent Capture report by Kroll, a risk consulting and financial solutions firm, concluded there was a “reasonable likelihood that Capture may have resulted in shortages for deputy postmasters.”

Kroll did not draw any conclusions about the safety of the convictions. They found that 13.5% of all branches were able to use Capture.

The report also found that deputy postmasters alleged that network managers and area managers pressured them to use the system.

It said investigation teams did not address the issue of “errors” in the system at the time.

Kroll also questioned the competence and effectiveness of the Capture Helpdesk.

Following the report’s publication, Neil Hudgell, a solicitor at Hudgells solicitors, told Sky News that his firm had advised more than 70 people who had experienced unexplained losses in their branches when using Capture.

He said: “Like Horizon, it was a flawed system that destroyed lives while officials repeatedly ignored the evidence unfolding before their eyes.”

The independent review only took place “thanks to the courage, determination and resilience of those affected who came forward to tell what happened to them and ultimately did not allow injustice to go unchallenged,” he added.

Hudgell is calling for “swift action in response to these failings,” including the creation of a compensation system that allows people to “seek a speedy resolution or pursue further action in their individual cases.”

“Getting to this stage should never have required such a long and hard fight, and now we cannot face a long, hard fight for acquittal and compensation,” he said. “As we have seen this year, new laws can be accelerated to overturn dangerous convictions and clear citizens’ names.”

Lord Beamish, former Kevan Jones MP, attended a briefing on the report and stated that he believed the Capture provisions “exist”.

“I think there needs to be more research done at the Post Office,” he said. “I wouldn’t trust the post office as long as I can spit.”

He described it as a “copycat” of the Horizon scandal.

A Post Office spokesman said: “We fully support and will continue to fully support the independent forensic accounting investigation launched by the Government into Capture.

“We have been very concerned from the beginning about the reported problems with the use of Capture in the 1990s and we are sincerely sorry for the past failures that caused distress to postal managers.

“We are determined that the wrong must be righted as far as possible.”

Earlier this year, Sky News revealed that the govt agreed to an independent expert opinion proof of capture.

A group of postal subcontractors provided investigators with materials, including diskettes containing software.

They claimed that errors occurred while updating the Capture software and that power outages were another possible cause of the glitches.

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Steve Marston, 68, claims he was wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting after errors caused by Capture accounting software.

In 1998, auditors discovered a £79,000 shortfall at his Greater Manchester branch, after which he pleaded guilty to theft and false invoicing.

He said Capture was “totally unusable and should never have been released.”

He claims subcontractors were told that “(the software) will make our lives easier and that we will no longer have to do manual accounting as we did in the past.”

He says the Postal Service provided him with interception “and he was basically left to his own devices with no guidance.”

Another Capture victim, Steve Lewis, lost his job in 2000 after raising concerns about Capture software shortcomings and glitches.

“I was always thought of as the guy who robbed the Post Office,” he said.

“I lost the post office, the commercial buildings I had moved into and was forced to sell the family home.”

Lewis claims he was warned “not to cause trouble” and told the problems were only about him.

Only when he saw the drama on TV, Mr. Bates vs. the Post Officethat he “became aware” of similarities between Horizon’s victims and himself, such as “unexplained losses.”

Documents seen by Sky News also show the Post Office knew Capture was prone to errors that could cause accounting problems.

In January, the government ordered the Post Office to investigate claims related to Capture.