Post Office Capture IT system conviction referred to Court of Appeal for first time

The archetypal Post Office Capture condemnation is to beryllium sent to the Court of Appeal, Sky News understands, successful a "breakthrough" infinitesimal successful the IT scandal.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has decided to notation the lawsuit of sub-postmistress Patricia Owen, who was convicted successful 1998 of theft.

Mrs Owen was recovered blameworthy by a assemblage based connected grounds from the faulty IT bundle Capture, which was utilized successful 2,500 branches betwixt 1992 and 1999, earlier the Horizon Post Office scandal.

It comes aft Sky News revealed that a damning study into Capture, which could assistance overturn transgression convictions, had been unearthed aft astir 30 years.

The determination to notation the first-ever Capture lawsuit to the Court of Appeal has been made connected the grounds that Mrs Owen's prosecution was an "abuse of process".

The improvement has been described by victims' lawyer Neil Hudgell arsenic "hugely pivotal".

"The Court of Appeal don't person that galore referrals that commencement astatine the CCRC, and astir get turned away, truthful it's a precise precocious barroom to adjacent get cases from the CCRC to the Court of Appeal…"

"I deliberation it volition beryllium a existent changeable successful the limb to each the different Capture victims who are waiting for their cases to beryllium determined by the CCRC."

Mr Hudgell described the study recovered earlier this twelvemonth - written by machine experts successful 1998 and highly captious of Capture - arsenic "significantly tipping the balance".

Sky News recovered that the Post Office knew astir the study astatine the clip and continued to prosecute sub-postmasters based connected Capture evidence.

Mrs Owen ever maintained her innocence but died successful 2003 with a transgression grounds earlier the wider Post Office ungraded came to light.

Her girl Juliet Shardlow said she cried erstwhile she heard the quality that her mother's lawsuit would beryllium referred to the Court of Appeal.

"I consciousness aggravated that she is not present due to the fact that she died earlier her time… we volition beryllium determination - we volition beryllium sitting determination successful that beforehand row.

"I can't enactment it into words due to the fact that it's inactive each a daze that we are wherever we are and that aboriginal this year, oregon adjacent year, we mightiness person what we acceptable retired to get… justness for her."

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The CCRC is presently investigating 30 cases perchance related to the Capture bundle system.

Twenty-seven of those cases are present assigned to lawsuit reappraisal managers and nether "active review", with a further 3 cases successful the preparatory stages.

The CCRC has described a "challenge" implicit determining "whether cases progressive the usage of Capture astatine the clip of the alleged offences".

Dame Vera Baird, seat of the CCRC, told Sky News that Mrs Owen's "could beryllium a touchstone case" and if her condemnation is quashed, it would "obviously velocity up others that are successful the pipeline".

In a missive written to Liam Byrne, seat of the Business and Trade Committee, and seen by Sky News, it said that accusation the Post Office has provided "does not, successful astir cases, amusement whether it was installed and successful cognition astatine the clip of the alleged offending".

It besides mentioned that the Post Office is reviewing "a important magnitude of information which whitethorn incorporate further information".

A Post Office spokesperson said: "While it is not due for america to remark connected circumstantial cases, we person been precise acrophobic astir the reported problems relating to the usage of the Capture software, and we are sincerely atrocious for past failings that person caused suffering to postmasters.

"We are determined that past wrongs are enactment close and proceed to enactment the government's enactment successful this country arsenic good arsenic afloat co-operate with the Criminal Cases Review Commission."