A software glitch has caused the greatest miscarriage of justice in modern British judicial system.
The Post Office scandal caused by a fault in the computer software, Horizon, reported shortfalls in revenues from 1999 to 2015 as a result of which over 900 sub-postmasters were disciplined.
Many of them were prosecuted and sent to jail for theft, false accounting and fraud.
Many borrowed money to replace the monies that the system erroneously, said was missing under them. This went into tens of thousands of dollars.
The stigma and effect on the workers were devastating as the Post Office refused to listen to their complaints of a possible fault with the system.
Horizon was made by a Japanese company, Fujitsu, and was introduced into the British postal office in 1999.
Twenty years later, after an expensive legal battle, reprieve came for 555 of the sub-postmasters.
Led by Alan Bates, a sub-postmaster, they jointly sued the Post Office, and the High Court ruled in 2019 that Horizon software was faulty.
In 2020, the government set up a public inquiry into the matter.
The system is slow and only 93 of them have had their convictions overturned over 20 years later.
ITV did a four-part documentary, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, in January, 2024, sparking public outrage.
British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, waded into the matter.
A legislation is being proposed within weeks to absolve them of any wrongdoing and adequately compensate each of them.
Any other process will take too long, considering the fact that a huge number of sub-postmasters is involved seeking for justice after too long a time.
Many of them are dead, about three from suicide
The British Post Office is still using an advanced version of Horizon which it believes is reliable and robust and the mistake will not occur again.
