Appeal joy for theft accused postmasters in Post Office IT fault row

Postmasters who were falsely accused of theft and fraud have welcomed a Court of Appeal decision to consider pleas for false convictions.

The Sunday Post revealed how a Scots postmaster paid out a five-figure sum after the Post Office’s computer system insisted they had stolen funds.

But faults in the IT Horizon system were uncovered showing many of the accusations were unfounded.

Another postmaster, Fiona McGowan from Edinburgh, died after mistakenly overdosing on antidepressants after being hounded by the Post Office for £30,000.

Kashif Nadeem from The Borders paid the Post Office £28,000 when they accused him of theft.

“The IT system was flawed in favour of the Post Office,” said Ashrif. “Money often transferred from my own post office shop account twice to head office without alerting us. Now justice will be done through the Appeal Court.”

A compensation scheme has been set up to repay families.

Former postmaster Tim McCormack, said: “I welcome this. It has taken five years to reach this conclusion and justice will now be seen to be done.”

More than 500 postmasters and postmistresses were accused of false accounting with some being jailed, after the faulty Horizon IT system showed their branches to be running unexplained deficits. The Criminal Cases Review Commission found prosecutions had been an abuse of process.

Thirty nine out of 61 cases are to be referred, with the remainder still under scrutiny.