Post Office to oppose six appeals in IT scandal

SIX former sub-postmasters are trying to overturn their convictions in a IT scandal as the Post Office is fighting it by opposing the appeals.

They will be part of the latest batch of 12 cases before the Court of Appeal, arising from problems with the faulty Post Office computer system, Horizon.

Another four cases are uncontested by the Post Office, and in two other cases more time is being sought.

According to reports, 59 former sub-postmasters who were wrongly accused of stealing money have had their convictions overturned. In total, there have been more than 700 prosecutions based on evidence from the Horizon software system.

When the software system was in use, hundreds who worked in the Post Office branches were subsequently convicted of various offences, including theft and false accounting.

As reported by the BBC, following convictions, some former postmasters went to prison, some struggled to secure new work. There were also some who lost their homes and even failed to get insurance because of their convictions. Some have even died.

The Post Office has said that it is helping individuals with access to information for the legal process, however, to date it has decided to oppose 24 of those appeals.