The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Prosecutors told: ‘Come clean on Horizon cases’
Scotland’s prosecution service has been told to “come clean” about its role in the Post Office Horizon scandal after it admitted no internal review of its role in the miscarriages of justice has been carried out.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said it was focused on overturning wrongful convictions.
Unlike in England and Wales where the Post Office acted as a private prosecutor, cases in Scotland were brought by the agency, which prosecutes all crime in the country.
It is believed they oversaw the convictions of around 100 subpostmasters after discrepancies were flagged by the Post Office’s Horizon accounting software.
Others were not prosecuted but forced to replace the identified shortfalls, including Fife woman Mary Philp.
Speaking to The Stooshie, the Scottish politics podcast from DC Thomson, Mary’s daughter Myra Philp said her mum took pride in her honesty and only wanted to do a good job in the community role.
“She was very honest and to be accused of something like that, especially when you’ve been questioning the computer system, and you’re convinced there’s something wrong and know it’s not you – it just devastated her,” she said.
“She never worked again. She’d have a few tears when you mentioned it going on through her life.
“The sad thing is she died not knowing she was correct. And she’d have loved to have been correct.”
Ms Philp – who ran the post office in Auchtermuchty – died in 2018 before her name was cleared. Pressed by The Courier over whether an internal review into its role had been carried out, COPFS said decisions on a future investigations would come “in due course”.
A spokesman said: “The current focus of the Horizon case review is on addressing the miscarriages of justice. COPFS has provided a statement to the public inquiry which details the timeline of awareness we had of issues with the Horizon software, and the action we took to preserve the proper administration of justice.
“We are committed to public understanding of the role of Scotland’s prosecutors in these cases, and will provide information when it is appropriate to do so, respecting the ongoing legal processes.”
It comes after it admitted it was made aware in 2013 of issues with the Fujitsumade system, which resulted in almost 1,000 sub-postmasters being convicted of crimes including theft and embezzlement.
A spokesperson said: “Retained records demonstrate that COPFS were first made aware of potential problems with the Horizon computer system in May 2013.
“However, we were told by the Post Office at that time that these potential problems did not impact on any of our cases.”
Asked if the Crown Office chose not to look again at the convictions in Scotland relating to Horizon because of assurances from the Post Office and if it felt it had been misled, the service said yesterday that it could not provide a response.
The ongoing inquiry and appeals against convictions may limit what COPFS is able to disclose publicly.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay MSP said: “The Crown Office was entirely responsible for prosecuting scores of Scots victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.
“Innocent men and women were wrongly convicted, and some died without seeing justice.
“SNP ministers must ensure that the Crown comes clean about their role, and fully engage with the public inquiry and with parliament. Silence is not an option.”
For those convicted in England and Wales, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a new law will be introduced so people wrongly convicted are “swiftly exonerated and compensated”.
This will not apply to Scottish convictions due to the distinct justice system.
Scan the QR code below to hear Myra Philp tell us about the devastating impact the Post Office scandal had on her late mum Mary.