When a computer system installed by the Post Office went haywire, it led to the convictions of scores of subpostmasters for theft and false accounting. Lives were wrecked. But after a devastating ruling by the court of appeal, the full truth can now be finally told about the extent of the great Post Office scandal
When the Post Office installed a new accounting system called Horizon across its branches in 1999, it hoped to bring a lumbering and much-loved institution into the 21st century. What happened next resulted in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in English legal history. The system contained bugs and glitches that showed up as wild shortfalls in the takings in Post Office branch tills. Subpostmasters instantly fell under suspicion for theft and false accounting. Over the course of the following decade, scores of Post Office employees were prosecuted with some going to jail, all based on the evidence from the rogue Horizon computer system.
One of those who ended up in prison was Janet Skinner. She tells Anushka Asthana how her dream job as a subpostmaster in Hull turned into a nightmare after she was accused of stealing £59,000 from her employer. Her ordeal had an enormous impact on her livelihood, her family and her health.
