JARB0000102- Letter to Richard Foster RE: Post Office and the convictions

Evidence on official site

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12 January 2015

Richard Foster

Chairman

Criminal Cases Review Board
5 St Philip's Place
Birmingham B3 2PW

Could I ask for your help please, over a matter I have been pursuing for a number of years?
This concerns the Post Office and the convictions, sometimes after pleas of guilty, of sub-
postmasters and sub-postmistresses for offences usually of false accounting, but also (I
understand) theft and fraud. The accused tended to blame the Post Office's Horizon
computer system for the money that had gone missing.

After discussion with many concerned Members of Parliament, the Post Office set up a
scheme to consider these cases, with the availability of independent mediation if agreement
between those accused and the Post Office could not be reached. I was hopeful that justice
might be achieved via this scheme, but have now given up as the Post Office is doing
everything in its powers to stop cases proceeding to any mediation at all. I am extremely
disappointed that this is the result of much hard work and negotiation by myself and over
140 other MPs.

The result of this is that there is a strong likelihood that miscarriages of justice have
occurred but that those who have suffered from them will now have no means for redress
of their conviction via the Post Office’s mediation scheme. Whilst we understand that some
of these individuals may be guilty we cannot believe that all are and we would very much
like to see what we can do to help our constituents, many of whose lives, finances, and
reputations have been utterly ruined. I enclose herewith a copy of the debate in Parliament
last month, which may be found at:

http://www. publications. parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm141217/halltext/141217
h0001.htm#14121741000002

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Are you able to offer me any thoughts as to whether or not the CCRB would look into these
cases please? I do not know the procedure of bringing this to the Board's attention, and so
thought it best to begin with a direct approach to you.

I should be most grateful for your consideration of this matter.