Postmasters prosecuted by CPS while Keir Starmer was in charge

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Sir Keir Starmer has been dragged into the Post Office scandal after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revealed it had prosecuted postmasters while the Labour chief was in charge.

The CPS mentioned on Wednesday evening that it prosecuted 11 instances which “involved evidence connected to Horizon” – three resulted in convictions while Sir Keir was in charge.

It turns the focus of the scandal to the Labour chief, after days of concern at former Post Office boss Paula Vennells and Lib Dem chief Sir Ed Davey.

Labour mentioned Sir Keir was unaware of any instances being prosecuted while he was Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

But he has beforehand instructed Sky News that he “carries the can” for errors made while he was DPP. It opens the Labour chief as much as questions on why he didn’t intervene in the instances, and assaults over his involvement in the scandal.

Errors made by Horizon software program, which was made by tech agency Fujitsu and used by the Post Office, led to the wrongful conviction of greater than 700 individuals over false accounting and theft between 1999 and 2015.

The renewed concentrate on the scandal comes amid a brand new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

Addressing the scandal in parliament, Sir Keir mentioned: “It is a huge injustice; people lost their lives, their liberty and their livelihood, and they have been waiting far too long for the truth, for justice and for compensation.”

A spokesman for the Labour chief mentioned throughout his time as Chief Prosecutor “no cases” regarding Horizon have been dropped at his desk.

The spokesman mentioned: “The scandal that’s emerged is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history and Labour has been calling for swift exoneration and compensation for the victims.

“It’s vital that all action is taken to right these wrongs. Labour’s focus is on playing our part in making sure this injustice is never repeated.”

During Keir’s time as DPP, the CPS dealt with greater than 4million instances.

And while the CPS mentioned the “vast majority” of instances in opposition to postmasters have been non-public prosecutions, it mentioned on Wednesday it had discovered “a small number” of CPS instances prosecuted based mostly on proof linked to Horizon.

A spokesman mentioned: “We’ve worked extensively and identified a small number of CPS cases which involved evidence connected to Horizon.

“In these cases, we have written to those defendants to disclose information so they could pursue an appeal.”

It argued instances involving the CPS have been taken ahead in good religion on the idea of proof supplied by the Post Office and the police.

In 1999, Horizon, a faulty Fujitsu IT system, started incorrectly reporting money shortfalls at branches throughout the nation. The accusations tore individuals’s lives aside, with many dropping their jobs and houses.

Several individuals took their very own lives because of the stress.

To this present day, not a single Post Office or Fujitsu worker has been held to account over the scandal, a lot much less confronted felony investigation. Sixty of the victims have died earlier than discovering any justice in any respect.

But on Wednesday Rishi Sunak introduced that Post Office department managers wrongly convicted are to be exonerated.

After a two-decade lengthy battle for justice, a whole lot of these caught up in the scandal may have their good names restored by the top of the yr below the federal government’s plans.