The system, Capture, was prone to bugs and faults but sub-postmasters were forced to hand over money, sacked, and in some cases faced criminal prosecution by the Post Office for accounting errors.
IT specialist Adrian Montagu and his colleague’s investigation said the software was “totally discredited” while concluding “reasonable doubt exists as to whether any criminal offence has taken place”.
Ms Owen’s daughters Deborah, left, and Juliet say their mother was ‘destroyed’ by the Post Office
Ms Owen ran a Post Office branch in Sweechgate near Canterbury, Kent. She was convicted of theft in 1998 over a shortfall in her branch of only £6,000 and received a suspended prison sentence, died in 2003.
As a result of the long-running investigation by The i Paper, the Government ordered an independent review of Capture, which found sub-postmasters were likely to have suffered unexplained losses because of the software.
Her family always believed he had not turned up in court, but he has now produced notes to show he was there.
“He did not give me a reason why. I was simply told to go home. I was shocked when I later learned that Mrs Owen had been convicted.”
It goes on to say these issues caused “arithmetical or accounting errors”.
The Capture software was rolled out to Post Office branches starting in 1992Her daughter Juliet said: “We just keep discovering more and more details which demonstrate that, once the Post Office decided it wanted to prosecute our mother, she was on a hiding to nothing.
“The legal team literally had expert evidence in their hands to say the prosecution of my mother was unsafe, and not just her of course, all others prosecuted in relation to Capture.”
The bid to have Ms Owen’s conviction quashed has been submitted to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to be considered for referral to the Court of Appeal
“The report was very clear in its findings. Capture was totally discredited and found to be entirely unreliable for use as any form of evidence with regard to branch account discrepancies,” he said.
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Refering to the more recent IT scandal affecting sub-postmasters, concerning the Horizon IT stystem, he added: “This certainly follows a theme we have seen in investigating the hundreds of prosecutions relating to Horizon which followed in subsequent years.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We have been very concerned about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software and are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters.
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Postmasters including Patricia Owen endured immeasurable suffering, and we continue to listen to those who have been sharing their stories on the Capture system.
“Government officials met with postmasters recently as part of our commitment to develop an effective and fair redress process for those affected by Capture, and we will continue to keep them updated.”
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