Post Office prosecuted more than 200 people in just three years after it installed Capture - the IT software that predates Horizon
Hundreds of postmasters may have been wrongly convicted for accounting issues related to the use of a second faulty IT system, i can reveal.
An i investigation reveals for the first time the scale of a potential second miscarriage of justice linked to Post Office software that pre-dates the now notorious Horizon programme.
Sub-postmasters claim they were sacked, forced to hand over money and criminally prosecuted as a result of faults with Capture, a piece of software rolled out in the mid-1990s.
Hundreds of postmasters may have been wrongly convicted for accounting issues related to the use of a second faulty IT system, i can reveal.
An i investigation reveals for the first time the scale of a potential second miscarriage of justice linked to Post Office software that pre-dates the now notorious Horizon programme.
Sub-postmasters claim they were sacked, forced to hand over money and criminally prosecuted as a result of faults with Capture, a piece of software rolled out in the mid-1990s.
A report on the findings of the independent investigation into the software, which was launched earlier this year by the previous government, is due to be published next week.
Previously, there were thought to be at least 40 sub-postmasters and families claiming they suffered at the hands of the Post Office while using Capture.
Data obtained by i under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws now show that after the introduction of Capture, the number of private prosecutions brought by the Post Office soared from two in 1992 to 93 in 1998.
The following year, when Horizon was introduced, 114 prosecutions were brought, resulting in 107 convictions. Every one of these has now been quashed – but the Capture convictions still stand.
The FOI data means that, for the first time, the true scale of prosecutions which coincided with the introduction of Capture can be set out.
Those prosecuted by the Post Office under Capture – who were pursued on similar accounting charges to those faced by Horizon victims – argue they too should have their convictions overturned.
The data shows that before the rollout of Capture began in 1992, annual prosecutions were negligible – in 1992 the Post Office pursued two cases of “suppression” and “pension and allowance encashment fraud” but failed to secure convictions in either case.
But in 1996, that number jumped to 31, followed by 60 in 1997 and 93 in 1998. The offences pursued include “audit shortage”, “cash loss” and “false accounting”.
Prosecutions continued at a similar level following the introduction of Horizon. More than 1,000 convictions have been secured in total since 1990.
Since 2016, after the Post Office stopped pursuing prosecutions using Horizon data, following a long-running campaign by sub-postmasters, the pattern has returned to that of the early 1990s – with just a single prosecution, in 2018.
In January, i first revealed claims that more sub-postmasters had been wrongly convicted in relation to the Capture system. It came after TV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office brought the impact of the Horizon scandal home to millions.
Steve Marston, 68, is an alleged Capture victim who believes he was wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting charges in 1998, after Post Office investigators said £79,000 was missing from his branch in Heap Bridge, Greater Manchester.
Mr Marston insists he never stole “a penny” and that he began suffering accounting problems after the Post Office introduced Capture.
Since then, dozens of other sub-postmasters have come forward to say they believe the software was faulty and they were wrongly made to hand over money, sacked, and in some cases criminally prosecuted.