In a letter to the widower of a former sub-postmistress who spent decades battling the Post Office over money that auditors claimed was missing from her branch in the North East, the Post Office admitted for the first time there were “significant failings” in Capture, a piece of software rolled out in the 1990s.
“It is clear through the efforts of former Postmasters and their families that there were significant failings at the Post Office relating to Capture.”
She died in 2020 aged 71 but it is thanks to a raft of documents she kept in her loft that Capture campaigners have been able to expose the scandal.
Ms Tooby’s original receipt showing that the Post Office sold a computer system called Capture to sub-postmasters in the 1990sAnd in a precursor to the Horizon scandal, sub-postmasters were forced to hand over money, sacked, and in some cases criminally prosecuted.
Mr Recaldin’s letter went on: “We are truly sorry for these failings and their impact on all concerned, including your late wife June.
A court transcript related to Mrs Tooby’s case shows how the Post Office stated under oath its computer system wasn’t faulty
Mr Tooby has been invited to receive an apology in person from the Post Office, if he wishes.
square NEWS ExclusivePost Office denied IT system was defective under oath despite knowing of ‘faults’
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“It’s the exoneration that we wanted,” he said.
He added that he believes the apology is “sincere” and he hopes it will now help those who have criminal convictions to have them overturned.
In the letter, Mr Recaldin points to an independent investigation carried out by US firm Kroll into Capture which heard evidence that knowledge of bugs in the system were “not formally shared between Post Office control functions (e.g. IT and audit functions) and it appears they may not have been considered as a possible contributing factor to shortfalls, for which Postmasters were then pursued by Post Office.”
Steve Marston, centre, and other former sub-postmasters meeting Government officials about the Capture scandal (Photo: Tom Pilston/The i Paper)Capture was developed in-house by the Post Office and Mrs Tooby kept a bulletin sent to staff by the IT team from March 1996 in which sub-postmasters were advised to continue keeping “manual” records as well as using the computer system.
Mrs Tooby always believed faults with Capture could have played a role in the accounting problems at her branch.
A Capture troubleshooting guide sent to sub-postmasters, and kept by Mrs Tooby, described “bugs” in the system
Sub-postmasters met with the government last week to discuss the development of compensation schemes for those affected by Capture shortfalls.
“Ensuring postmasters are treated with dignity and respect is our absolute priority and we will continue to update on the development of the redress mechanism as it progresses.”
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