took one TV series put one of the biggest judicial scandals Recent history of England. Between 1999-2015 Post office the British were blamed 4,000 workers related to theft, fraud and accounting fraudWhich 900 people were convicted of crimes they did not commit and those attributed to something Computer System Error of the company. Despite efforts to highlight the plight of those affected in recent years, ‘the series was released’Mr Bates vs. Post Office‘On the ITV network, whose government is putting to work to compensate hundreds of people as quickly as possible for economic and psychological damages.
“We will make sure the truth comes to light” fix it past mistakes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons this Wednesday: “People who have worked hard to serve their communities have seen their lives and reputations destroyed through no fault of theirs.” Victims must be achieve justice and compensation“. The government plans to cancel the fines in the coming months through the approval of a law in parliament and compensate those affected. 600,000 pounds Sterling (€697,000), bringing the total cost to taxpayers to over €520 million.
prison sentences
Hundreds of post office sub-managers have been victimized for years. Horizon computer system errorsIt is managed by the Fujitsu company, which calculates the cash and stocks in each branch through daily recording of transactions. The amounts calculated by the computer program did not match the amounts recorded by the workers, leading to the arrest of many of them. wrongfully convicted With heavy fines and even prison sentences. At least four of them took their livesAnother woman was imprisoned while pregnant.
There were system errors It was condemned for years It received a positive verdict from a group of 555 affected people. Supreme Court England and Wales At the time, the judge considered the computer problems proven and expressed “serious concern” about what had happened. Post Office general manager between 2012-2019, Paula VennellsHe apologized for it the following year”pain caused“, But so far he has not given up on his departure as Commander of the Order of the British Empire after a petition was signed by more than a million citizens.
Debug responsibilities
Despite the court decision five years ago, only 93 of 900 criminal convictions were overturnedIt’s something the government is currently trying to accelerate. Alongside the executive’s decisions, a public inquiry has been ongoing since 2021, at which time several people involved have been revealed, post office inspectors this made sure there were no mistakes in the computer system. One of them, Stephen Bradshaw, admitted in a statement this Thursday that it was the company’s lawyers who wrote his statement in 2012, which showed his absolute confidence in the effectiveness of the Horizon program.
For now, no officials from the postal company or Fujitsu have been convicted for these mistakes, but Metropolitan Police Is it possible to work Fraud crime at PTT, will be about the measures used by those in charge of the offices to recover stolen money, according to the British press. Lawyers for victims argue that their clients pressured them to be convicted of lesser crimes to avoid prison sentences, in some cases to avoid crimes they confessed to.