Post Office statement on Southwark Crown Court appeals

Southwark Crown Court today (9 June 2022) formally acquitted two people in cases referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), in uncontested appeals. The cases, from 2003 and 2005 relate to convictions in Magistrates’ Courts in which Post Office acted as prosecutor.

A Post Office spokesman said:

“We are sincerely sorry for the impact of historical failures on the lives of the people affected.

“We continue to take extensive action to fully address the past and to ensure past shortcomings can never be repeated. We have undertaken fundamental reforms to rebuild trust and forge a new relationship with our current postmasters.”

Post Office ceased prosecutions related to Horizon computer evidence in 2015. Appeals of cases began in 2020 following the ‘Horizon Issues’ Judgment in civil Group Litigation and, to date, there have now been 74 historical convictions overturned in unopposed appeals. In addition, there has been one conviction overturned in a conceded appeal in which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was the Respondent, not Post Office.

Note to editors:

The two cases today related to convictions in Magistrates’ Courts, which must be appealed to the Crown Court. The appeal process for a Magistrates’ Court conviction is a re-trial rather than a review of the original proceedings and, as Post Office did not oppose either of these appeals, the Court acquitted the two people. This process does not require the Court to issue a written judgment.

As part of an extensive post-conviction disclosure exercise Post Office has identified a total of 706 historical convictions in cases it prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 in which Horizon computer evidence might have featured. Of these, a total of 102 have now been through the appeal Courts. To date, 74 convictions have been overturned in unopposed appeals and 28 appeals have been dismissed, abandoned or refused permission to appeal.

Post Office has continued to contact people with relevant convictions and has been able to do so in the vast majority of cases. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is also contacting some potential appellants directly. Further details about appeals and progress on compensation can be found on our corporate website here: https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk