British Post Office scandal

The British Post Office scandal is a series of miscarriages of justice which, between 1999 and 2015, saw over 900 subpostmasters prosecuted for theft, false accounting, and fraud for shortfalls at their branches.

In fact the postmasters were entirely innocent. The shortfalls were due to errors in the Post Office's Horizon accounting software. The Horizon accounting system was developed by ICL Pathway, owned by the Japanese company Fujitsu. 

In 1999, the Post Office started to roll out the new software to its branches and sub-post offices, the latter managed by subpostmasters on a self-employed basis under contracts with the Post Office. The contract to create the system for the Post Office and the Benefits Agency was awarded in May 1996 to ICL Pathway Limited, a subsidiary created for the purpose in 1995 by British computer company ICL, which was itself majority-owned by Fujitsu of Japan. 

Court cases
983 people were convicted in court; 236 got a prison sentence; In 2015, further (or more) prosecution was stopped.Kjetil Wiedswang. https://www.dn.no/kommentar/tv-dramaet-som-endret-virkeligheten/2-1-1582114. Dagens Næringsliv. Retrieved 2024-01-28

 References 

 Bibliography 





 Other websites 

 Post Office Horizon Inquiry – official website

 Official finding of the April 2021 appeals, and summary
 Timeline of key events in the Horizon scandal  and Other pages on the Post Office Corporate site

Category:Trials