The number of convictions linked to a second Post Office IT scandal being investigated for miscarriages of justice – has more than doubled, Sky News has learned.
Twenty-one Capture cases have now been submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for review.
Before Christmas, it was around eight.
They relate to the Capture computing software, which was used in Post Office branches in the 1990s before the infamous faulty Horizon system was introduced.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongly accused of stealing after Horizon software caused false shortfalls in branch accounts between 1999 and 2015.
A report last year found that there was a reasonable likelihood that the Capture accounting system, used from the early 1990s until 1999, was also responsible for shortfalls.
If the CCRC finds significant new evidence or legal arguments not previously heard before, cases can be referred back to the Court of Appeal.
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Lawyer for victims, Neil Hudgell from Hudgell Solicitors, says the next steps for the Capture cases and the CCRC are still “some months away”.
He said he is also hopeful that the first cases could be referred to the Court of Appeal before the end of this year.
“Certainly we will certainly be lobbying,” he said. “The CCRC will be lobbying, the advisory board will be lobbying any interested parties, that these are hideously damaged people of advancing years who need some peace of mind and the quicker that can happen the better.”
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‘We didn’t talk about it’
Among those submitted to the CCRC – Pat Owen’s Capture case was the first.
Her family have kept her 1998 conviction for stealing from her post office branch a secret for 26 years.
Speaking to Sky News they have opened up for the first time about what happened to her.
Pat was a former sub-postmistress, who was found guilty and given a two-year suspended sentence.
She died in 2003 from heart failure.
Her daughters describe her as coming home from court after her conviction “a different woman”.
“We didn’t talk about it,” said Juliet Shardlow. “We didn’t talk about it amongst ourselves as a family, we didn’t talk about it with the extended family.
“Our extended family don’t know.”
David Owen, Pat’s husband, said she lost a lot of weight after her conviction and at 62 years old “looked like an old gal of 90”.
Capture evidence never heard in court
Pat’s family kept all the documents from her case safe for over two decades and now a key piece of evidence may turn the tide on her conviction, and potentially help others.
A document summarising the findings of an IT expert described the computer Pat used as having “a faulty motherboard”.
It also stated that this “would have produced calculation errors and may have been responsible for the discrepancies subsequently identified by Post Office Counters’ Security and Investigation team.”
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The computer expert was due to give evidence in Pat Owen’s defence at court as part of her trial – but failed to turn up on the day.
The family say they never found out exactly why he didn’t show up at court.
David said there was a computer all set up in the courtroom for the expert to use to show malfunctions.
“I heard, now I can’t remember who from, that he’d done work for the Post Office,” he said.
“If he turned up to be a witness in court for us to he wouldn’t get any more work from the Post Office.”
Despite best efforts the expert has never been tracked down. The Post Office has declined to comment.
David also described how his wife never expected to lose her case.
“She was so confident. She knew she didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
“But when the guilty verdict came out she actually fell to her knees in the dock crying her eyes out shaking.”
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He said the judge then asked if he wanted to say anything, and David said he got up in court and spoke at length about his wife’s innocence.
The government announced in December that they will be setting up a redress scheme for Capture victims, similar to Horizon.
So far around 100 people who suffered after being accused of stealing from their branch, while using Capture, could be eligible for redress.
