Post Office Capture victim’s conviction sent to Court of Appeal ...Middle East

The first conviction linked to a second IT scandal at the Post Office has been referred to the Court of Appeal.

Sub-postmistress Patricia Owen was found guilty of theft after she was prosecuted in 1998 for stealing just £2,000 from her branch in Canterbury, Kent.

She strenuously denied stealing any money at the time and suspected Capture, a precursor to the notorious Horizon computer system, was faulty and causing accounting problems.

Mrs Owen, who received a six month suspended sentence, died in 2003 but her family, including daughter Juliet Shardlow, have been determined to clear her name.

The case is one of 30 potentially linked to the Capture software being examined by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, (CCRC), the only independent body which has the power to send cases to the Court of Appeal.

Ms Shardlow and her legal team have now confirmed Mrs Owen’s case is the first to be referred by CCRC commissioners to the Court of Appeal.

If judges decide there is a possibility Ms Owen’s conviction was unsafe they will list it for a full hearing.

It is not clear if the Post Office will contest the appeal application or not.

The Post Office has previously apologised for “past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters” and said that it is “determined that past wrongs are put right.”

Ms Shardlow described the news as “a bit of a groundreaker”.

“Mum’s case will go to court and as long as everything goes as it should it will help all the other Cpature victims,” she told The i Paper.

“The big thing for me is that we’ve been fighting for this for such a long time and finally someone in authority has said ‘Yes, this is correct and you’re right’.

“It feels like validation.”

The i Paper first reported in January 2024 that a number of former sub-postmasters and their families were claiming to have been wrongly convicted by the Post Office in a scandal that pre-dated the Horizon computer system.

Capture, which was developed by the Post Office in house, was first rolled out to branches in 1992 and was used by at least 2,500 branches.

The Post Office’s IT team sent numerous bulletins out to postmasters during the mid-90s admitting their software was faulty and capable of causing accounting problems, but investigators continued to prosecute people.

The CCRC stated Mrs Owen was a Sub-Post Office Manager at Broad Oak Post Office near Canterbury. Accounts at that branch were produced using Capture, a software programme introduced to replace the manual cash accounts in smaller Post Offices.

A standard check of Mrs Owen’s accounts in November 1995 showed an overclaim relating to pension and allowance payments. After her equipment was seized the Post Office alleged she had manipulated the accounts produced by the Capture software system to inflate payment claims. Mrs Owen adamantly denied any wrongdoing but was prosecuted and convicted.

Ahead of her trial in 1998, Ms Owen instructed computer expert Adrian Montagu to help her defence. He examined Capture and concluded in his report that it was unreiable and capable of producing “gibberish”. He was not called to give evidence at her trial, however, and the family are unclear as to why.

Hudgell Solicitors, which has represented many Horizon victims, is now supported Ms Shardlow and more than 100 people affected by Capture.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell said: “This is another landmark moment in the continuing campaign to ensure all those who were wrongly prosecuted at the hands of the Post Office have their names cleared.

“Those who were affected by Capture have suffered the longest of all.”

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He added: “I was always stuck by how Mrs Owen protested her innocence throughout, pointing the finger of blame at the system. Why compelling IT evidence was not used in court remains a mystery.

“However, this is a hugely positive step, and we hope this is the first of many cases to be referred for consideration.”

A Post Office spokesperson said: “While it is not appropriate for us to comment on specific cases, we have been very concerned about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software and we are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters.

“We are determined that past wrongs are put right and continue to support the Government’s work in this area as well as fully co-operate with the Criminal Cases Review Commission.”

A spokesperson for the CCRC said: “Following a thorough review of the case, the CCRC has made the decision to refer Mrs Owen’s conviction to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that her prosecution was an abuse of process.

“The CCRC has sent more than 70 cases associated with the Post Office Horizon scandal to the appeal courts. The scandal involved hundreds of UK sub-postmasters being wrongly accused and convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting due to faults in the Horizon IT system.

“It will be for the Court of Appeal to decide whether Mrs Owen’s conviction is unsafe and should be quashed.”

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