Yahoo News Post Office investigators who ‘repeatedly misled’ Scotland prosecutors could face charges
Post Office investigators who “repeatedly misled” the Crown Office in Scotland by saying evidence from the Horizon system was reliable could face prosecution, the country’s most senior law officer has warned.
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said the Post Office had been a “trusted” investigating agency for decades and had assured the Crown Office that the flawed system was “robust”.
In a statement to the Scottish Parliament, she said prosecutors were entitled to take these assurances at “face value” when deciding whether to proceed with cases against postmasters falsely accused of embezzlement.
Defending the decision to proceed with the cases, she said the Crown Office “would not have known nor indeed suspected that the Post Office may not have been revealing the true extent of Horizon problems”.
She told MSPs that prosecutors were “repeatedly misled by the Post Office” and “assurances, which were just not true, were repeatedly given”.
Ms Bain said any police complaints against the Post Office itself or individual employees for misleading prosecutors would be considered, although she suggested that the public inquiry into the scandal be given precedence.
Addressing those wrongfully convicted, she apologised and said: “I understand your anger and I apologise for the way you have been failed by trusted institutions and the criminal justice system and I stand beside you in your pursuit of justice.”
But the Lord Advocate was forced to deny trying to pass the buck by making “excuses”. Unlike south of the Border, where the Post Office has the power to bring its own prosecutions, the Crown Office brought all the cases against Scottish postmasters.
She also cast doubt on whether there should be a blanket quashing of convictions for postmasters, arguing that not all would be miscarriages of justice as some did not rely on Horizon evidence.
Instead Ms Bain argued that it was “critical” that “due process” be followed and the Court of Appeal should decide in each case whether a conviction should be overturned.
Only 16 people come forward
Up to 100 people in Scotland could have been wrongly accused while working as Post Office branch managers. In 2020 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) wrote to 73 potential victims of miscarriages.
However, only 16 people have come forward and four Scottish convictions have been quashed.
Humza Yousaf has pledged that all victims of the scandal in Scotland will have their convictions overturned. He wants to use a legislative consent motion, a device giving Westminster permission to extend to Scotland a law exonerating victims in England and Wales.
Ms Bain told MSPs that the Crown Office is Scotland’s only public prosecution service and acts independently but has 70 investigative agencies, including the Post Office.
Post Office ‘failed to deliver assurances timeously’
In May 2013 the Post Office’s “external lawyers” contacted prosecutors to address public concerns with Horizon and assured them over the following months that it was “robust”.
But on Aug 7 that year, Ms Bain said the Crown Office issued prosecutors with advice “to carefully consider any Post Office case to determine if Horizon impacted it whilst information was awaited”.
A further meeting was held the following month at which “Post Office officials repeated their assurances to Scottish prosecutors”. However, they agreed to obtain further evidence and another report about Horizon.
The Post Office “failed to deliver these assurances timeously”, Ms Bain said, prompting the Crown Office to decide not to prosecute “several newly reported cases”.
More talks were held two years later, on Oct 6 2015, during which the Post Office said it remained “confident in Horizon”. However, it admitted it was unable to provide the evidence or report requested by the Crown in September 2013.
On Oct 22 2015 prosecutors were advised to assess all Post Office cases and “discontinue or take no action in cases which relied on evidence from the Horizon system to prove a crime had been committed”.
“I am very deeply troubled by what has occurred, and I remain acutely concerned that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was repeatedly misled by the Post Office,” she added.
Pressed whether those who misled the Crown Office could be prosecuted, she said allegations of criminality would go through the “normal process” and there would be a “reaction” to any police report that was received.
But Russell Findlay, the Scottish Tories’ shadow justice secretary, said: “While victims might welcome the Lord Advocate’s apology, the Crown Office seems determined to dodge its critical role and responsibility and to pin the blame on others.”
A Post Office spokesman said: “We fully share the aims of the current public inquiry, set up to get to the truth of what happened in the past and accountability. It’s for the inquiry to reach its own independent conclusions after consideration of all the evidence on the issues it is examining so it’s not appropriate to comment whilst their work is continuing.”
