The Horizon scandal: Legal Business in conversation with Post Office litigator James Hartley

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https://www.legalbusiness.co.uk/blogs/t ... s-hartley/

Earlier this year, Legal Business sat down with Freeths’ disputes partner James Hartley to relive the headline-grabbing Post Office litigation.

The litigation was born out of a high-profile scandal, in which more than 700 postmasters and sub-postmasters were handed convictions after a computer software system, called Horizon, incorrectly reported missing money in various Post Office branches between 2000 and 2014.

After protracted legal battles, in 2019 the Post Office settled with 555 claimants, agreeing to pay £58m in damages. As of March 2022, 72 former postmasters had their convictions overturned, with convictions being quashed regularly since. It is officially the UK’s worst ever miscarriage of justice in terms of scale.

Hartley (pictured), who led the successful case, witnessed first-hand the ups and downs of the saga, and he shared as much in the podcast. On the agenda: slippery litigation tactics, the ins and outs of disputes funding, and the harrowing personal toll the scandal inflicted upon postmasters up and down the country.

You can listen to the podcast at https://www.legalbusiness.co.uk/blogs/t ... s-hartley/