Post Office hands over secret emails that could reveal why subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted

The Post Office has agreed to hand over secret emails from its lawyers which could explain why hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongly prosecuted for fraud, theft and false accounting, when a computer glitch was really to blame for financial irregularities.

A public inquiry is under way to find out what happened, and 59 people have had their convictions overturned.

Insiders estimate that the inquiry will be given tens of millions of documents, spanning over 20 years of e-mails and letters between Post Office staff and internal legal advisers, barristers and solicitors’ firms.

Postmasters accused of theft by Post Office celebrate outside the High Court In London after they had their convictions overturned

The documents will allow the inquiry to test claims made by the Post Office’s former chief executive, Paula Vennells, a part-time priest, that she was led astray by her legal advisers.

The Post Office does not legally have to hand over the papers but volunteered them at the request of the inquiry’s chairman, Sir Wyn Williams.

Postmasters had argued that it would be impossible to uncover how thousands of them were targeted without considering the advice given to senior managers by their lawyers.

The inquiry would have had no legal power to order the Post Office to hand over the documents if it had not voluntarily given it up, legal sources said.

Former Post Office worker Janet Skinner (centre) hugs family members after having her conviction relating to the Horizon IT scandal overturned in April of this year

Sir Wyn said: ‘There is now a great deal of work to be done in organising and obtaining disclosure of relevant documents statement here.’

A Post Office spokeswoman said: ‘Following the request by the inquiry chairman, the Post Office has agreed to waive relevant legal privilege for the purpose of the Inquiry to over 20 years of documentation, reflecting our desire to assist the Inquiry in obtaining the information necessary to complete their investigations.

‘While the Inquiries Act does not compel this step, and legal privilege is an important feature of our justice system, this is the right thing to do for all those affected by the Horizon IT scandal.’

It has declined to waive privilege in respect of the postmasters’ compensation scheme, the Historical Shortfall Scheme.

What was the Horizon computer system and how did it go wrong? 

Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of postmasters were sacked or prosecuted after money appeared to go missing from their branch accounts (file image) 

Horizon, an IT system developed by the Japanese company Fujitsu, was rolled out by the Post Office from 1999.

The system was used for tasks such as transactions, accounting and stocktaking. However, subpostmasters complained about defects after it reported shortfalls – some of which amounted to thousands of pounds.  

Some subpostmasters attempted to plug the gap with their own money, even remortgaging their homes, in an attempt to correct an error.

Between 1999 and 2015, hundreds of subpostmasters were sacked or prosecuted due to the glitches. The ex-workers blamed flaws in the IT system, Horizon, but the Post Office denied there was a problem.

In case after case the Post Office bullied postmasters into pleading guilty to crimes they knew they had not committed.

Many others who were not convicted were hounded out of their jobs or forced to pay back thousands of pounds of ‘missing’ money.

The Post Office spent £32million to deny any fault in their IT system, before capitulating. 

However, the postmasters and postmistresses said the scandal ruined their lives as they had to cope with the impact of a conviction and imprisonment, some while they had been pregnant or had young children.

Marriages broke down, and courts have heard how some families believe the stress led to health conditions, addiction and premature deaths.