Post Office Scandal Widens: Third System Under Scrutiny as Appeal Referral Made
The ongoing Post Office scandal, already recognized as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, has taken another important turn.The Criminal cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now referred a conviction linked to a third Post Office IT system – the Automatic Payment Service (APS) and Automatic Payment Terminal (APT) – to the Court of Appeal. This development further expands the scope of the investigation beyond the infamous Horizon system and the previously identified ‘Capture’ system.
This latest referral centers on Gareth Snow, a former subpostmaster from Denbighshire, Wales. He faced accusations of false accounting stemming from nearly £60,000 in unexplained shortfalls at his branch. Following an audit in November 2000, the Post Office alleged he falsified documents to conceal these losses.
Snow initially pleaded guilty in July 2001 at Caernarfon Crown Court, receiving a six-month prison sentence. Though, he maintained his actions – falsifying accounts – were a direct result of errors generated by the APT system, leading to the discrepancies. He initially attempted an appeal in 2021, later withdrawing it, before submitting a renewed request to the CCRC in March 2023.
A Pattern of Systemic Failures
The importance of this referral lies in the growing evidence of systemic issues within the Post Office’s IT infrastructure. Approximately 900 convictions tied to the Horizon system have already been overturned through dedicated legislation. Additionally, one conviction linked to the pre-horizon ’Capture’ system has been sent to the Court of Appeal, with around 30 more cases currently under CCRC review.
The APS/APT system, predating widespread smartcard use, was an early attempt to automate payments for services like rent, rates, and utilities. A former Post Office employee described it as a key project during a period of increasing demand for electronic payment methods.
Echoes of the Horizon Scandal
CCRC Chair Vera Baird, KC, highlighted crucial evidence suggesting the APS/APT system was prone to accounting errors. She noted that in Snow’s case, there was no evidence of actual financial loss, yet unexplained shortfalls persisted. Critically,Baird emphasized the Post Office’s apparent failure to investigate potential system-related causes.
The CCRC identified “real similarities” between Snow’s case and the accomplished 2021 appeals spearheaded by Jo Hamilton, a former subpostmaster and tireless campaigner. Both cases point to potentially unreliable data originating from Post Office systems as the root cause of the wrongful convictions.
Ultimately, the Court of Appeal will now determine whether Snow’s conviction is unsafe and should be quashed. This case underscores the urgent need for thorough investigation into all potential systemic failures within the Post Office’s historical IT systems.
A Decade of Uncovering the Truth
The Post Office scandal first came to light thanks to investigative reporting by subpostmasters-denied-compensation/” title=”Post Office IT Outage: … Denied Compensation”>Computer Weekly in 2009. Their initial coverage detailed the experiences of seven subpostmasters and the devastating consequences of the flawed Horizon accounting software. This groundbreaking journalism laid the foundation for uncovering the widespread injustice that continues to unfold today.
Resources:
* post Office Horizon scandal explained: Everything you need to know
* Hundreds of subpostmasters to have convictions quashed in blanket exoneration
* CCRC formally sends Post Office Capture referral to Court of Appeal
* Bankruptcy, prosecution and disrupted livelihoods: Postmasters tell their story
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