The Post Office minister has admitted sharing “frustration” that victims of the Capture IT scandal are still waiting for justice.
In an exclusive interview with The i Paper, Labour’s minister Blair McDougall revealed more than £3.2m in compensation has now been paid out to former sub-postmasters and their families who lost money while using the faulty Capture system.
McDougall insisted there has been a “change in culture” at the Post Office, despite victims’ fury over its decision to challenge the first appeal of a criminal conviction linked to Capture.
The Capture software was developed by the Post Office in-house and rolled out to thousands of branches in the 1990s.
Sub-postmasters complained of bugs and faults that caused them to suffer accounting problems for years.
But in a precursor to the Horizon scandal, they were forced to hand over money, sacked, and in some cases criminally prosecuted by the Post Office.
Following an investigation by The i Paper, the Government set up a new compensation scheme, which has now received more than 200 applications and has made 46 interim payments and 24 final payments.
However, there remains anger over both the fairness of the compensation scheme and the lack of progress regarding criminal convictions.
Those who were successfully prosecuted by the Post Office will not receive a penny until their convictions are overturned.
Patricia Owen was convicted of theft by the Post Office in 1998 while using the Capture system despite insisting her innocenceThe i Paper revealed earlier this year how the first case to be referred to the Court of Appeal by the miscarriages of justice watchdog, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, is being opposed by the Post Office.
Patricia Owen was convicted of theft in 1998 despite insisting she never stole any money and instructing an independent IT expert who found Capture to be riddled with faults.
Lawyers for the Post Office submitted a response of more than 40 pages to the Court of Appeal, admitting the software was faulty and would have caused accounting problems but insisting Mrs Owen, who died in 2003, was still able to receive “a fair trial”.
Asked about the Post Office’s position, McDougall said: “I’m sure the Post Office are aware of the need to be sensitive and reactive on this, and I think there will be a lot of lessons learned about speed of due process, not just within the judicial side of things but also in the redress side of things.
“For justice to be served, whatever the outcome is in these cases, it is the duty of the Post Office, as the prosecutor in the original cases, to present what they think is kind of a truthful and honest position in court.
“And that means ensuring all the relevant information is presented.
“I can’t comment on individual cases, I perfectly understand that sense of frustration.
“But… in order for people to have confidence that justice is being done, you do have to have the full facts and all the information laid out.”
The Criminal Cases Review Commission says it has around 29 cases related to Capture convictions.
The Post Office’s decision to delay and then oppose Mrs Owen’s case at the Court of Appeal, and warn that it may take the same position with other Capture cases, has prompted outrage among campaigners.
The first wrongful Horizon convictions were not overturned by the Court of Appeal until December 2020, more than 16 years after they took place.
The slow pace in the justice system prompted the previous Conservative government to use unprecedented Parliamentary legislation to quash the remaining Horizon convictions, thought to relate to around 900 individuals in 2024.
McDougall did not rule out taking similar action with Capture convictions at a later date.
Chair of Post Office Limited Nigel Railton said he would support mass exoneration of convictions (Photo: Jeff Moore/PA)Post Office chairman Nigel Railton has also stated publicly he would support mass exoneration of Capture convictions.
McDougall added: “I’ve got to tread carefully, because I can’t comment on the appeals themselves that are going through, but on the wider questions of the change in culture in the Post Office, I think you are seeing that change of culture from top to bottom within the Post Office.
“You’re seeing it through the change in pace and the change in behaviours in the way that the various redress schemes are being pursued, not just by the Post Office but by myself and my department.
“I meet [Post Office bosses Nigel Railton and Neil Brocklehurst] both very, very regularly to have these conversations and the whole shape of that conversation is talk about this culture change.”
The Horizon public inquiry concluded public hearings in December 2024 and chair Sir Wyn Williams published the first volume of his report last year.
The second is expected later this year and McDougall said that he believes this will help draw a line under the scandals surrounding the Post Office.
“We’re entering 2026 in that period where the scandal I think begins to conclude,” he said.
“We move into a new phase after Sir Wyn’s report and I think it’s really incumbent on us to make sure that beyond the Post Office scandal the lessons of how we listen to people when they raise suggestions of gross injustices like this.”
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