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Post Office scandal – Court of Appeal quashes convictions of 12 more sub-postmasters

On 19 July 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of twelve more sub-postmasters on the grounds that their prosecutions were an abuse of process. All of the appellants are represented by Tim Moloney QC and Kate O’Raghallaigh, instructed by Neil Hudgell of Hudgell Solicitors.

This decision marks the latest chapter in the Horizon IT scandal which resulted in the seminal judgment of the Court of Appeal in Hamilton & Others [2021] EWCA Crim 577 on 23 April 2021, in which the Court held that the private prosecutions of 39 sub-postmasters had been “an affront to justice”. The British Government has since set up a statutory inquiry into the scandal, chaired by Sir Wyn Williams.   

In Hamilton & Others, Tim Moloney QC and Kate O’Raghallaigh were appointed lead advocates by the Court of Appeal and represented 29 of the 39 appellants for whom the Court found that the investigative and disclosure failings of Post Office Limited were “so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the “Horizon cases” an affront to the conscience of the court” and that, in their conduct of the prosecutions, the Post Office “reversed the burden of proof”

The judgment of the Court in Hamilton has set a historic precedent for sub-postmasters whose convictions were based on the integrity of the Horizon IT system. Tim and Kate remain instructed for dozens of applicants before the Court of Appeal and the Criminal Cases Review Commission.  

For a link to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Hamilton & Others, click here.

For more information on the case, click here.

See links to coverage here: The Times, The Guardian, BBC.