What on earth does the Post Office have to do with reviewing convictions? Well, quite a lot actually!

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This case involves the company which owns and runs our Post Office network, Post Office Limited (POL). In each of the Post Office branches, software called ‘Horizon’ was used as the main IT system. This system keeps a record of all sales and purchases in each branch and can calculate how much stock is available. The managers of these branches, ‘sub-postmasters’, had to sign off how much cash and stock were in each branch. Many sub-postmasters found themselves convicted of theft, fraud or false accounting offences when auditors of the system found less cash and stock than was signed off.

That’s where the CCRC come in. Originally, around 33 applications were made to us between 2015 and 2018 from sub-postmasters to review their convictions. In their applications, they stated there was new evidence which had surfaced since their convictions showing there were failings in the Horizon system and the response of POL to these failings were relevant to the safety of their convictions.

Important supporting evidence for these applications was two judgments of the High Court from 2019, which arose from a claim against the Post Office lodged by 550 former sub-postmasters. The findings in these judgments showed there were significant problems with the Horizon system, in particular its accuracy. It also found that POL failed to reveal the true position of how reliable Horizon is as software. The CCRC found that the findings in these judgments were of significance to the safety of the Post Office applicants’ convictions.

The CCRC conducted a full and thorough investigation into these cases, but each review was tailored to the circumstances of each applicant’s conviction. During the course of our review we obtained and reviewed a large volume of material relating to each applicant’s conviction from third parties. We also met with several individuals and campaign groups to assist with our investigation, including the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance group and Ron Warmington, Managing Director of ‘Second Sight’. Additionally, the CCRC instructed forensic accountants to examine the transaction logs looking for Horizon errors and analysed the High Court judgments in detail.

Since June 2020, we have referred around 50 of these Post Office Horizon cases to the appeal courts. This also includes Crown Court appeals. The basis of all those decisions was an argument that the Post Office prosecutions were an abuse of process, an argument arising from the two judgments by the High Court.

On 23 April 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed 39 convictions and concluded that failures of investigation and disclosure by Post Office Limited were ‘so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the Horizon cases an affront to the conscience of the court’. A further 8 appeals were also quashed at the Crown Court.

If you believe you have been wrongly convicted because of problems with the Horizon computer system, you should consider challenging your conviction. We at the CCRC have been proactively trying to reach applicants who were convicted under these circumstances. You can hear about this case and other cases on National Prison Radio. Listen out for the CCRC’s prison radio campaign which is beginning in July and running throughout the year.

If you have already tried to appeal your conviction, we recommend that you make an application to the CCRC for a review of your conviction, as we have the power to refer your conviction to an appeal court if there is a real possibility that the court will allow an appeal. If you were convicted in the Crown Court and have not yet appealed your conviction, you should try to appeal directly to the Court of Appeal in the normal way.



Who can apply to the CCRC?

It doesn’t matter what age you are, how you identify your gender, or what ethnicity you are – if you have been convicted of a crime in England, Wales or Northern Ireland then you are welcome to make an application to the CCRC. Applications to the CCRC are made up of lots of different applicants, convicted of different crimes and from different backgrounds; this includes some of society’s most vulnerable people. In fact, as of February 2021, of the 760 cases we had referred, more than 80 of these cases involved young people (aged 21 or under) and in 70 of the cases the applicants were women.

Here at the CCRC we are always working hard to better understand the issues that face the vulnerable groups who make applications to us. That’s why we have been working alongside charities such as the Centre for Women’s Justice and Women in Prison to make sure we continue to understand the needs of women in the criminal justice system.

We understand that sometimes women may find it difficult to disclose abuse in a relationship or perhaps even recognising the abuse in the first place, and that this may negatively affect their case. We are also aware that it can be difficult for women to build relationships with their legal representatives, especially if it’s a male representative and there has been a history of abuse from other males. We know that sometimes it can be hard where children are concerned, and how being in prison can be harmful to relationships with children and family.

We want to be able to provide support to our applicants in the best way possible, whilst taking into account the issues that affect them. This is why we hold training events all through the year so that everyone working at the CCRC can learn and improve their knowledge and understanding of the people who apply to us. We are always looking at ways to improve the way that we work and we will continue to work alongside charities for the future.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the publicly funded body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England and Wales. They are the only body with the power to send a case back to the courts for a second appeal.

Send your Appeal Queries to: ‘CCRC Q&A’ Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB.