Britain's deranged Post Office scandal, wherein hundreds of postal workers were falsely accused of stealing money because of a faulty computer accounting system and in many cases imprisoned, is finally exploding in the wake of "new revelations": even though there's no question they are innocent, only a handful have been exonerated and many are still on the hook.

What is the Post Office Horizon IT scandal all about?

All you need to know about one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in UK history

theguardian.com/business/2024/

The Post Office scandal involves miscarriages of justice involving hundreds of innocent people who were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting.

It has been going on for over 20 years, with the Post Office accused of a cover up after it repeatedly failed to disclose key evidence.

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry and court cases have heard that at least 60 subpostmasters have died without seeing justice or compensation, and at least four took their own lives.

funfact

The Horizon system is still used by the Post Office, which describes the latest version as "robust"

corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/

Why are people talking about the Post Office scandal now?

An independent public inquiry has been examining the treatment of sub-postmasters, compensation and the Horizon system. It began in February 2021

Mr Bates vs The Post Office - an ITV drama broadcast in early January - thrust the issue back into the spotlight, with another 50 potential victims coming forward.

bbc.co.uk/news/business-678991

The Horizon IT scandal, frequently called the largest miscarriage of justice in British history, is back in the headlines thanks to a prime-time ITV dramatisation. The resulting surge of interest has led to Paula Vennells, who ran the Post Office from 2012 to 2019, agreeing to return her CBE. But there’s also a technical underside to the very human story of power run rampant.

How the Post Office’s Horizon system failed: a technical breakdown

theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/j

Now claw back Vennells’s bonuses from the Post Office. The rules allow it

Clauses in the former CEO’s contract could easily be enforced – but the whole rotten saga goes deeper

theguardian.com/business/nils-

Post Office scandal: Hundreds could have convictions overturned this year

Ahead of the public inquiry into the affair resuming on Thursday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons on Wednesday that those previously convicted in England and Wales would be cleared of wrongdoing and compensated under a new law.

bbc.com/news/uk-67932595

The Scottish government also announced similar plans for those convicted in Scotland, which has a separate legal system.

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-679

the decision to overturn the convictions through an Act of Parliament as "unprecedented" and said it had not been taken lightly, given its potential ramifications on the legal system.

Mr Hollinrake said the move applying to England and Wales "raises important constitutional issues" around the independence of the courts, which are normally the authority that would overturn a conviction.

The minister also accepted the new law would risk seeing people who were genuinely guilty of a crime pardoned

Fujitsu Bugs That Sent Innocent People to Prison Were Known ‘From the Start’

Software flaws were allegedly hidden from lawyers of wrongly convicted UK postal workers.

wired.com/story/uk-post-office

@ecksmc sounds like those bugs are going to send some more people to jail.

@b4cks4w one can hope

BUT i highly doubt the right people will get punished for the misery they have inflicted on so many families

@ecksmc my parents have been following this saga since the early days, and the questions are not stopping and political leaders from the past are being brought in to this cyber whirlwind.

@b4cks4w

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@Mauve_matelot @b4cks4w

yup Labour as well as Tories and especially the labour leader who was former Chief Prosecutor

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