PO Inquiry – former head of legal gives evidence
PO Inquiry – former head of legal gives evidence
Two former leading legal powers for the Post Office give evidence today April 30.
Hugh Flemington former Head of Legal and Harry Bowyer a barrister and former employee of Cartwright King Solicitors.
Background –
New legislation will clear and compensate sub-postmasters victims of what’s called the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice.
Hundreds wrongly prosecuted after faulty software said money missing from Post Office branch accounts.
More than 900 sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from a computer system called Horizon.
The Post Office itself took many cases to court, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015.
Another 283 cases were brought by other bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Many sub-postmasters went to prison for false accounting and theft, and several were financially ruined.
In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office. In 2019, it agreed to pay them £58m in compensation, but much of the money went on legal fees.
A draft report uncovered by the BBC showed the Post Office spent £100m fighting the group in court despite knowing its defence untrue. The Post Office said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on the report.
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