Post office under Metropolitan Police investigation

[JIMMY12345]

They have made peoples lives a misery and they committed crimes.This is absolute corruption at its worst.State sponsored corruption"
Jo Hamilton Hampshire Postmaster


ITV showed a 4 part drama."Mr Bates v The Post office" recently.People are angry and shocked at the major injustice.Mr Sunak Prime Minister of the UK echoed the feeling but did not exactly spell out what the current government was going to do about it. Mr Starmer is a high flier and Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.For someone who is likely to be the next PM he is surprisingly coy on the subject.The Metropolitan Police has started an investigation into the Post Office scandal.This can only be welcomed.About time.
Google the United Kingdom Post office scandal and post your thoughts and predictions.

 

[Stevicus]

Never heard about this, but curiosity made me look: Post Office scandal explained: What the Horizon saga is all about

What is the Post Office scandal?

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses - an average of one a week - based on information from a computer system called Horizon.

Many maintained their innocence and said they had repeatedly raised issues with Horizon.

But some went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined.

What is the Horizon system?​

Horizon was introduced by the Post Office in 1999. The system was developed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, for tasks like accounting and stocktaking.

Sub-postmasters complained about bugs in the system after it falsely reported shortfalls - some for many thousands of pounds.

A petition calling for former Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells, to lose her CBE over the scandal has received more than one million signatures since the drama was broadcast.

Ms Vennells has previously said that she remains "truly sorry for the suffering caused to wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters and their families". She said: "I continue to fully support and focus on co-operating with the [public] inquiry."

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has also faced pressure over his handling of the scandal, when he was postal affairs minister in the coalition government.

In May 2010, he refused to meet Alan Bates, the sub-postmaster who led the campaign to expose the scandal, saying he did not believe it "would serve any purpose". The pair later met in October 2010.

Mr Davey recently said he regretted not asking "tougher questions" of Post Office managers, describing what had happened as "dreadful".

The article has identified a few of the troublemakers who should be held accountable. One of them was informed of the problems as far back as 2010 and refused to meet with the sub-postmaster trying to expose the scandal.

It seems quite outrageous that this clear case of bureaucratic malfeasance went unchecked for more than 20 years. It says that many innocent people went to prison, some were financially ruined. This impacted on hundreds of people's lives, so the perpetrators should have to pay with severe prison sentences (including the people who wrote the software). There should be absolutely zero tolerance on false imprisonment, and any judge who puts an innocent person in jail should be imprisoned for the same amount of time.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Google the United Kingdom Post office scandal and post your thoughts and predictions.

I think we need larger font.
I predict we won't get it.​

 

[JIMMY12345]

Never heard about this, but curiosity made me look: Post Office scandal explained: What the Horizon saga is all about







The article has identified a few of the troublemakers who should be held accountable. One of them was informed of the problems as far back as 2010 and refused to meet with the sub-postmaster trying to expose the scandal.

It seems quite outrageous that this clear case of bureaucratic malfeasance went unchecked for more than 20 years. It says that many innocent people went to prison, some were financially ruined. This impacted on hundreds of people's lives, so the perpetrators should have to pay with severe prison sentences (including the people who wrote the software). There should be absolutely zero tolerance on false imprisonment, and any judge who puts an innocent person in jail should be imprisoned for the same amount of time.

Stevicus many thanks for the synopsis.For those interested Nick Wallis has written "The Great Post office scandal" However be warned you will be in tears after reading.The truth is indeed stranger than fiction.Many people are angry because the CEO A lady priest Ms Venells has taken all the blame even though she is not a finance or IT specialist.Social media is up in arms as her male colleagues escaped Scot free and some are probably still on the board.They are the ones who advised her.
We do not want to see the mostly male board in jail or fined.Like the truth and reconciliation committee in S Africa they need to face censure.The bankers faced the music in 2018.They did not put innocent people in jail or make they commit suicide.What the PO board did is far worse.Mr Sunak and Mr Starmer are intelligent honorable men.They will ensure reversal of convictions.They will arrange compensation.They will keep silent on the chief culprits on the board.

The PO lawyers are equally culpable.Sky high charges to delay and block requests even now for information (from a public owned organisation).These firms cash in.They also give lawyers an unsavory reputation.Especially as they take a lot of the compensation.