Judiciary not responsible for Horizon scandal convictions, top judge says

Lady Chief Justice, Dame Sue Carr, said it was the jury, not judges, who deliver verdicts (Handout/PA)

Judges should not be implicated in the hundreds of wrongful convictions which make up the Horizon scandal, the most senior judge in England and Wales has said.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the Lady Chief Justice Lady Carr also said she is prepared to “speak out” to defend the rule of law, amid plans for blanket legislation to exonerate many of the affected former subpostmasters.

Hundreds of Post Office branch managers around the UK were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their shops.

Fujitsu has apologised to postmasters wrongfully convicted due to flaws in its Horizon IT software (Andrew Matthews/PA)

According to figures earlier this month, 100 people have since had their convictions quashed for offences including theft, fraud and false accounting.

Asked about the scandal, Lady Carr said there was “no basis for implicating the judiciary” in the wrongful convictions.

She said it was not the judge who convicts at the crown court, but the jury, and that it was not the role of a judge to question a guilty plea if a defendant is represented.

She continued: “I would resist any suggestion that there is any basis for implicating the judiciary in any of the very egregious failures that do appear to have gone on in terms of prosecution of these subpostmasters, for whom we all feel enormous empathy, where they have been wrongfully convicted.”

The acquittals have come after a 2019 ruling where Mr Justice Fraser found the Fujitsu-developed Horizon accounting system contained “bugs, errors and defects” and that there was a “material risk” shortfalls in branch accounts were caused by the system.

The Post Office later settled the civil claim brought by more than 550 claimants for £57.75 million, without admitting liability.

Post Office court case — Thirty-nine former subpostmasters had their names cleared at once in a 2021 Court of Appeal ruling (Yui Mok/PA)

Lady Carr described Mr Justice Fraser’s ruling as “a heroic piece of work”, adding: “It is that judgment that forms the platform of these convictions to be quashed, it is the fresh evidence, it is the basis of the convictions being overturned.”

The scale of the scandal has prompted the Government to adopt the unconventional approach of new legislation, rather than requiring individuals to challenge their convictions.

Ministers previously acknowledged the plan could result in some subpostmasters who did commit crimes being wrongly cleared, but insisted the process was the most effective way of dealing with the vast majority who were victims of a miscarriage of justice.

Downing Street previously said the “ambition” was for the plan to be implemented by the end of the year.

Asked about the planned legislation, Lady Carr said she did not know the specifics of the Government’s proposals.

She continued: “I hope you’ve seen enough of me already to know that if I have to speak out, I will … It is for the courts to make judicial decisions. These are court-ordered convictions.

“If there comes a point in time where the rule of law has to be confronted in this context, then I will confront it.”

Lady Carr, who became the first woman to hold the top judicial position, was sworn in last October.