The Post Office has spent almost £6.5m hiring lawyers in the two years since all Horizon convictions were overturned by Parliament, The i Paper can reveal.
The Government used unprecedented legislation to quash the convictions of around 900 sub-postmasters in May 2024, in response to renewed public anger over the scandal following the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
Former Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake acted amid complaints that it was taking too long for those wrongly convicted to see justice via the courts, in large part because of claims the Post Office was causing delays.
Despite the intervention, figures obtained by The i Paper using the Freedom of Information Act show the Post Office, which is owned by the taxpayer, has continued to spend large amounts of money on fees to external law firms.
A total of 12 invoices were paid at a cost of £4.1m in the year 2024-25, and a further 8 invoices paid at a cost of £2.3m in 2025-26.
A Post Office spokesperson said some of the invoices relate to work for “assisting and co-operating with” the ongoing police investigation into the Horizon scandal, codenamed Operation Olympos.
The probe has been running since 2020 and is looking at potential criminal charges of perjury, perverting the course of justice and corporate manslaughter.
Some of the fees relate to work for assisting the Government with the mass exoneration of Horizon convictions, the spokesperson added.
Post Office still fighting against Capture appeals
The Post Office also continues to spend cash on legal fees related to the Capture scandal, a second faulty IT system which predated Horizon.
The i Paper has revealed in a series of investigations how sub-postmasters suffered accounting problems while using Capture which was rolled out between 1992 and 1999.
The system was designed in-house by the Post Office IT team – but despite being aware of its problems with bugs and faults, sub-postmasters were forced to hand over cash, sacked and in some cases criminally prosecuted.
Following an independent review, the Government has set up a new compensation scheme for Capture victims. However, those with criminal convictions will not receive a penny until they are able to have them overturned.
Post Office chairman Nigel Railton has publicly expressed support for Capture convictions being quashed – but the first case to have reached the Court of Appeal is being contested by his organisation, leading to fears the Post Office will also challenge the appeals of other Capture victims.
Patricia Owen, who died in 2003, was convicted of theft in 1998 despite insisting she was innocent and her accounting problems were caused by bugs in Capture.
Documents lodged with the court in January show the Post Office is claiming Owen was able to receive a “fair trial” because “the reliability of Capture” was not “essential” to the prosecution.
The claims have left her family horrified and campaigners furious.
The notice was submitted on behalf of the Post Office by Simon Baker KC and Jacqueline Carey KC.
The i Paper understands that two law firms – Peters & Peters and Brodies have been instructed by the Post Office to deal with convictions which predate Horizon.
Patricia Owen’s daughter, Juliet Shardlow, has previously criticised the Government for failing to stop the Post Office spending more money on legal advice.
“They are wasting money and no one is stepping in,” she said.
Labour peer and veteran Post Office campaigner Kevan Jones added: “I find it astonishing that they’re now prepared to spend more public money defending the indefensible and continue the agony for these victims.”
Capture software was first rolled out to Post Office branches in 1992The Post Office has previously faced criticism for the huge amounts of money it has spent instructing external lawyers to advise it on scandals.
Figures obtained by The Lawyer magazine revealed the total had hit £250m in the decade to March 2024 – a period during which they were still dealing with thousands of criminal convictions and compensation claims linked to Horizon.
By contrast, the Government has awarded only £1.6m in compensation so far to victims of Capture who were forced to hand over money, sacked, lost their homes and had their lives ruined.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “Post Office wants all unsafe convictions to be overturned, and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that appeals are considered as swiftly as possible in accordance with the law and our duties to the courts.
“These fees are for legal services over more than two years to help us achieve this aim, including extensive document searches so that we can fulfil our duties of disclosure to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, as well as responding to referrals to the Court of Appeal.”
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