Private prosecutors are always at the mercy of the DPP, who has the power to take over any prosecution under section 6(2) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, and discontinue it under section 23.
So the CPS would certainly have been aware of the Post Office prosecutions, and could have taken them over, and/or discontinued them if they became aware that the evidence was unsound. But they chose not to.
I have ex colleagues who were part of the testing team on Horizon before it went live & they had huge reservations about the system, but their concerns were ignored in the interest of Fujitsu meeting delivery dates to ensure payment
This mention of the word compo/compensation. Let's not forget that in the 1st instance it isn't compensation, as many to date have not even made back what they have lost/paid to the Post Office. Like the Windrush scandal, I suspect that what the Government are hoping for is that many will die before any payment takes place. IMHO what should happen is that all those convicted of wrongdoing on the Fujitsu software issue should have their convictions overturned with immediate effect. Secondly, all of the monies that were paid to the Post Office should be paid back to the victims with interest. Only then can the topic of compensation be discussed which should take into account the mental health, wrongful imprisonment and suicides that took place.
Whilst that takes place, those that were accountable for this fiasco should face imprisonment including the person who put forward Paula Vennels for her CBE. 😡
Indeed. As with all the issues raised above, most of our Police Forces, the recent NHS maternity unit scandals (Letby and Nottingham QMC to name but two) it's not the mistakes, it is the failure to address them by very well paid executives, then ignoring them rather than acting on the warnings and then spending enormous sums of money on lawyers to threaten anyone who tries to bring it to attention to cover their arses before moving on to other lucrative work and honours. I can understand why the meally mouthed statements 'accepting the distress that has been caused' and 'promising to fully investigate' would just make the victims so angry. (As I heard on Radio 5 Live this morning.)
What I don't understand is why the Post Office and/or Fujitsu thought that over 900 postmasters being convicted for stealing wasn't more than a coincidence.
Did they really believe that all 900+ had found a loophole to 'beat the system' and steal from their employers?
Apart from having to personally make up any shortage, what there not any disciplinary process to go through, ie first warning etc
I was a bank cashier before the days of computer systems and thankfully we all knew that mistakes happen, though if regular you would be under review in line with due process.
@AlanCecil as I understand it, they went from 5 possible frauds a year to 60 a year after Horizon was introduced...they probably just thought they'd finally found a way to stop their thieving employees!
Why do I get the feeling, reading this, that Tim Robinson & Andrew Head are really having to restrain there language when describing the past actions of the Post Office employees?
I don't know how many of these sub post masters there are in the country. Maybe there's huge amounts in the high 1,000s which makes 900 a small percentage.
But you suspect 900 is a fairly decent percentage and thus the first suspicion shouldn't be a massive number of unconnected people all over the country have suddenly started to decide to steal, only picked up after a new system has gone in!
Comments
Not strictly true.
Private prosecutors are always at the mercy of the DPP, who has the power to take over any prosecution under section 6(2) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, and discontinue it under section 23.
So the CPS would certainly have been aware of the Post Office prosecutions, and could have taken them over, and/or discontinued them if they became aware that the evidence was unsound. But they chose not to.
… something about Jimmy Saville too. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story!
As it’s an election year this kind of stuff is going into overdrive.
I have ex colleagues who were part of the testing team on Horizon before it went live & they had huge reservations about the system, but their concerns were ignored in the interest of Fujitsu meeting delivery dates to ensure payment
This mention of the word compo/compensation. Let's not forget that in the 1st instance it isn't compensation, as many to date have not even made back what they have lost/paid to the Post Office. Like the Windrush scandal, I suspect that what the Government are hoping for is that many will die before any payment takes place. IMHO what should happen is that all those convicted of wrongdoing on the Fujitsu software issue should have their convictions overturned with immediate effect. Secondly, all of the monies that were paid to the Post Office should be paid back to the victims with interest. Only then can the topic of compensation be discussed which should take into account the mental health, wrongful imprisonment and suicides that took place.
Whilst that takes place, those that were accountable for this fiasco should face imprisonment including the person who put forward Paula Vennels for her CBE. 😡
Indeed. As with all the issues raised above, most of our Police Forces, the recent NHS maternity unit scandals (Letby and Nottingham QMC to name but two) it's not the mistakes, it is the failure to address them by very well paid executives, then ignoring them rather than acting on the warnings and then spending enormous sums of money on lawyers to threaten anyone who tries to bring it to attention to cover their arses before moving on to other lucrative work and honours. I can understand why the meally mouthed statements 'accepting the distress that has been caused' and 'promising to fully investigate' would just make the victims so angry. (As I heard on Radio 5 Live this morning.)
What I don't understand is why the Post Office and/or Fujitsu thought that over 900 postmasters being convicted for stealing wasn't more than a coincidence.
Did they really believe that all 900+ had found a loophole to 'beat the system' and steal from their employers?
Apart from having to personally make up any shortage, what there not any disciplinary process to go through, ie first warning etc
I was a bank cashier before the days of computer systems and thankfully we all knew that mistakes happen, though if regular you would be under review in line with due process.
@AlanCecil as I understand it, they went from 5 possible frauds a year to 60 a year after Horizon was introduced...they probably just thought they'd finally found a way to stop their thieving employees!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67884743
Why do I get the feeling, reading this, that Tim Robinson & Andrew Head are really having to restrain there language when describing the past actions of the Post Office employees?
Exactly this Alan.
I don't know how many of these sub post masters there are in the country. Maybe there's huge amounts in the high 1,000s which makes 900 a small percentage.
But you suspect 900 is a fairly decent percentage and thus the first suspicion shouldn't be a massive number of unconnected people all over the country have suddenly started to decide to steal, only picked up after a new system has gone in!