'Appalling' false convictions for UK Post Office 'thefts' provoke outrage

LONDON — Hundreds of sub-postmasters across the United Kingdom, wrongly convicted of theft because of a computer software glitch, were thrown a lifeline by the government on Monday, as public anger is mounting over what has been described as Britain's biggest-ever miscarriage of justice.

Lives were ruined by the false accusations that led to some Post Office branch managers being jailed, going bankrupt, losing their homes and their health.

Four people took their own lives and dozens of those since exonerated died without seeing their names cleared.

So far, 93 convictions have been overturned by judges, but hundreds more are waiting to be cleared.

In an urgent House of Commons debate on Monday night about the scandal, Business and Trade Minister Kevin Hollinrake told lawmakers, "This scandal was one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the nation's history."

He said options have been devised for dealing with the outstanding convictions against the postmasters and postmistresses.

"All of us on these benches and across the house are united in our desire to see justice done. I hope the government will be able to announce these proposals to the house very shortly," Hollinrake said.

Drawing sympathy

Now, a TV drama telling the story of the sub-postmasters' ordeal at the hands of their own employer has generated a wave of sympathy for the victims.

Critics hailed the four-part Mr Bates vs The Post Office, broadcast last week, for humanizing the ordeal of hundreds of people prosecuted for false accounting and theft between 1999 and 2015.

Far from being criminals, the sub-postmasters — pillars of their local communities — had not stolen a penny.

In fact, they were the victims of flawed accounting software and the state-owned Post Office's determination to defend it.

Following the broadcast, a petition calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to be stripped of an honor she received from Queen Elizabeth II has garnered more than a million signatures.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has described the scandal as an "appalling miscarriage of justice" that should "never have happened".

Agencies - Xinhua