Karl Flinders

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Government ‘urged’ to overturn all convictions based on Post Office Capture

Influential group has written to the government calling for legislation to overturn the criminal convictions of former subpostmasters that were based on Capture system data

Karl Flinders
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Published: 24 Oct 2024 19:12

The Horizon Compensation Advisory Board has written to the secretary of state for justice urging the government to legislate to overturn convictions of subpostmasters based on the error-prone Capture system.

The influential group, which includes peers James Arbuthnot and Kevan Jones who both campaigned for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal for many years, wants similar legislation to that used to overturn wrongful convictions for theft and fraud that were based on the controversial Horizon system.

In May, Parliament approved a law that will see hundreds of subpostmasters with wrongful convictions based on Horizon system data exonerated. This followed the airing of ITV’s dramatisation of the Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds prosecuted and convicted using flawed data from the Post office's branch account system, known as Horizon.

Computer Weekly reported in January that following the broadcast of the ITV drama, former users of the Capture software had come forward claiming they had been prosecuted for unexplained shortfalls. Former MP Jones, who now sits in the House of Lords, spearheaded a campaign for subpostmasters who believed they had suffered losses and criminal prosecutions as a result of Capture errors in a similar way to those who were convicted of crimes based on Horizon data.

Capture was a PC-based application developed by the Post Office and uploaded onto a personal computer by subpostmasters to carry out their accounts. The software – referred to by some users as a “glorified spreadsheet” – was a standalone system, unlike Horizon which is a complex, networked system connected to centralised services. About 2000 subpostmasters used it from 1993 until Horizon’s introduction in 1999/2000.

Academic Chris Hodges, a professor of justice systems who chairs of the government appointed Advisory board, wrote to Shabana Mahmood MP, the secretary of state for justice, advising that the Horizon and Capture situations are “indistinguishable”.

“We find it impossible to distinguish between the injustice suffered by the Horizon victims and the Capture victims. The Capture victims deserve particular speed in response in view of their greater duration of suffering and their advancing age,” wrote Hodges. “We urge you to overturn all the Post Office-driven convictions from the Capture period by legislation as soon as possible.”

More on the Capture controversy

Jan: MP demands answers from government minister over second faulty Post Office IT system.

Feb: More than 1,000 subpostmasters could have used second faulty Post Office system.

Feb: Government won’t rush to include Post Office Capture convictions in overturning legislation.

Feb: Post Office CEO’s claim to be ‘working hard’ on Capture investigation in doubt.

Mar: Post Office Capture users’ campaign for justice gathers pace.

Apr: Expert investigating Capture system refuses to meet ‘untrustworthy’ Post Office.

May: Government appoints investigators to analyse Post Office Capture software used before Horizon.

June: Post Office Capture software training deficit echoes systemic Horizon problems.

Sept: Investigation finds 'reasonable likelihood' Post Office Capture software caused accounting losses.

After pressure from campaigners following public anger over the Horizon scandal, the government commissioned forensic specialist Kroll to investigate Capture. Its report, published last month, concluded there is a “reasonable likelihood” that the Post Office’s Capture software used by hundreds of subpostmasters in the 1990s caused accounting shortfalls for which the users were blamed and, in some cases, prosecuted.

Hodges told the secretary of state: “We have read the Kroll report and media stories of the terrible experiences of individuals, and seen statistics about the number of Post Office investigations and prosecutions from the ‘Capture years’. Sickeningly, the evidence about the behaviour of Post Office investigations and management is the same as what took place in relation to the Horizon victims.”

Former Capture user Steve Marston, a former subpostmaster in Bury, Lancashire, was convicted in 1996 of theft and false accounting following an unexplained shortfall of nearly £80,000. He said he had never had any problems using the paper-based accounting system – these only started when his branch, which he ran from 1973, began using Capture. Marston, who has been campaigning since January, recently told Computer Weekly that he hopes to have his conviction overturned soon.

A Government spokesperson said: “The Post Office Offences Act 2024 was a truly exceptional response to unprecedented circumstances where hundreds of convictions based on evidence from the Horizon system were considered to be unsafe.  

  “The Criminal Cases Review Commission is looking into a small number of convictions which may be based on evidence from the Capture computer system. If they consider that there is a real possibility that these convictions are unsafe, they will be referred to the Court of Appeal.”

The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).

• Also read: What you need to know about the Horizon scandal •

• Also watch: ITV’s documentary – Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The real story •

• Also read: Post Office and Fujitsu malevolence and incompetence means huge taxpayers’ bill •

Timeline: Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009

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