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. 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 scandalWhen 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. The system contained bugs and glitches that showed up as wild shortfalls in the takings in Post Office branch tills. 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. He tells Anushka that the story at points defies belief as the Post Office continued bringing prosecutions against their staff long after they knew there were serious problems with the Horizon system.

Source: The Guardian May 10, 2021 01:52 UTC