News

Exclusive: The legal flaw and trial by computer error

Published

2 years ago

January 5, 2024

EXCLUSIVE: The Herald exposes the legal flaw that led to injustice for Sub Postmasters by our Chief Writer, John Coles and The Herald.Wales Team

IMAGINE being arrested and charged with a crime.

Now, imagine that charge going to trial.

You have led a blameless life, been well-known in your community, and you are entirely innocent of the allegations you face.

You are convicted and sent to prison.

Meanwhile, the person who claims you stole from them takes steps to recoup its money and plunge you into bankruptcy. You lose your business, your home, and your good name.

And you are innocent.

And to make it worse, the person who claims you stole from them has good reason to believe you did not commit any theft and they have lost no money.

They have the evidence to cast doubt on your conviction, but it’s never disclosed to the court or your defence team.

It sounds like something out of fiction. It sounds like the beginning of the plot of The Fugitive.

But it’s real.

And it happened.

It happened here in Pembrokeshire and across the United Kingdom to hundreds of others.

TAXPAYERS FOOT POST OFFICE’S BILL

That is precisely what happened to sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses when the Post Office covered up disastrous IT system failures.

And, make no mistake, the Post Office knew what it was doing at the time. It wasn’t a case when the evidence of a computer fault became obvious later.

The Post Office knew there were problems with the Horizon system supplied by Fujitsu. It commissioned reports showing the system was flawed. And Post Office senior management decided to bury them.

It’s an obscene abuse of power for which taxpayers will now foot the bill.

In September, the government announced that every Post Office Horizon scandal victim would receive £600,000 compensation.

Every sub-postmaster whose wrongful conviction relied on evidence from the Horizon computer system is entitled to the money, with “no ifs or buts”.

Eighty-six wrongful convictions have been overturned.

Many postmasters, wrongfully imprisoned for fraud or false accounting, were shunned by their communities or even took their own lives.

At least 30 of the victims have died before seeing justice done.

555 claimants took part in successful group litigation against the Post Office

The Post Office made puny offers to settle litigation with another 2,200 victims;

And the executives who oversaw this scandal have, by and large, walked away with large payoffs, large pensions, honours for their public service and into well-heeled retirement or other well-paid jobs.

A PROBLEM WITH PRESUMPTION

The deliberate failure to disclose evidence that tends to prove the innocence of the accused is – thankfully, despite exceptions and soap operas – seldom an issue in the UK’s courts.

But the accused in the Horizon scandal faced an even greater hurdle than failures in disclosure.
The law provides that evidence provided by a computer is accepted as true unless the accused can produce evidence showing its system is somehow flawed.

This is called “presumption”: something is deemed to be what it states it is on the tin (a functioning and accurate computer system in the Post Office case) unless evidence rebuts the presumption.
This makes sense only so long as a rebuttal is realistically achievable. If it is not, the presumption will inevitably lead to miscarriages of justice.

The more complex the computer system, the less accessible its technical data are, and the more the presumption weighs down on the wrongfully accused. Few barristers are sufficiently qualified in information technology to have more than a mechanical understanding of IT processes (I press a button, the computer turns on, open a computer program, and type a document). And, even if they did, barristers are not expert witnesses or Perry Mason.

THE INNOCENCE TAX

The limits of Legal Aid demonstrate the inequality of arms between the prosecution and defence in criminal cases. Prosecution barristers in criminal law might not earn the big bucks. Still, they’ll be on more than a defence barrister funded by Legal Aid. Prosecutors won’t have to apply for funding for expert witnesses or forensic accountants. The whole force of the state lies behind every prosecution barrister. In most criminal trials, an overworked Legal Aid defence practitioner instructs a barrister and hopes for the best.

And then there’s the “innocence tax”.

Suppose you are acquitted or acquitted after a successful appeal. In that case, you will almost certainly never recover the money you had to contribute to the costs of defending you. That can run into tens – if not hundreds – of thousands of pounds.

Let’s cut this down:

The Post Office knew or reasonably should have known its IT system was defective;

Despite that, it supported the prosecution of subpostmasters and pursued thousands more through the civil court;

Those convicted had no hope of successfully challenging the evidence against them because the law denied them that opportunity;

Those pursued and harried into bankruptcy were in the same position as those prosecuted;

Even when they were vindicated, all of the subpostmasters affected faced financial ruin due to the costs of proving they were not guilty of theft or liable for computer errors.

And if they were made bankrupt, the Insolvency Act means the first call on their compensation goes to their Trustee in bankruptcy.
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop once remarked: “If that’s justice, I’m a banana.”

The Chair of the Inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams KC, into the Post Office’s conduct has already reported on its conduct in damming terms and urged both it and the government to compensate those hit by the scandal now.

The Post Office and its executives oversaw the largest miscarriage of justice in modern times.
Those who presided over the cover-up must face the consequences of their actions and inaction. Those who knew the IT system was defective and connived at obscuring the truth must face criminal charges.

News

Parties make final push as Wales prepares to vote in historic Senedd election

Published

8 hours ago

May 6, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Campaign leaders criss-cross country in last-minute battle for crucial votes

WALES heads to the polls tomorrow (Thursday, May 7) after a frenetic final day of campaigning that saw party leaders, candidates and activists make one last push to win over undecided voters in what is being described as the most unpredictable Senedd election in modern Welsh history.

With polling stations due to open at 7:00am, parties spent Wednesday targeting key battleground constituencies across the country, including the new Ceredigion Penfro seat, amid growing expectations of a fragmented Senedd and a dramatic shake-up in Welsh politics.

The election is the first to be held under Wales’ new expanded Senedd system, with 96 Members of the Senedd being elected across 16 large constituencies using a proportional closed-list voting system.

Reform UK appeared to finish the campaign with significant momentum following a major rally on Tuesday attended by party leader Nigel Farage. The event drew large crowds and considerable online attention as Reform attempted to convert strong polling figures into seats in Cardiff Bay for the first time.

Farage used the rally to attack both Labour and Plaid Cymru, while positioning Reform as the party of “change” for disillusioned voters. Reform campaigners have focused heavily on immigration, cost of living pressures and opposition to what they describe as “wasteful government spending.”

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth spent the final day presenting his party as the main alternative to both Labour and Reform UK, insisting Plaid could “build a fairer Wales” while warning against what he described as “divisive politics.”

Labour figures, including First Minister Eluned Morgan and deputy leader Huw Irranca-Davies, urged voters not to “take risks” with public services, arguing only Welsh Labour could protect the NHS and local councils during a period of economic uncertainty.

Labour activists were heavily focused on turnout operations in traditional strongholds, amid polling suggesting the party could lose ground after decades as the dominant force in Welsh politics.

The Conservatives attempted to rally core voters with warnings about both Labour and Reform, while also focusing on farming, the rural economy and healthcare waiting lists.

In west Wales, Conservative candidates Paul Davies and Sam Kurtz spent the day meeting voters and carrying out final campaign visits across Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, arguing their experience and local knowledge would be important under the new electoral system.

The Liberal Democrats and Green Party also maintained visible campaigns in several areas, hoping tactical voting and the proportional voting system could help them secure representation.

Across Wales, campaign teams handed out leaflets outside transport hubs, supermarkets and town centres, while social media campaigning intensified throughout the day.

Political analysts believe turnout could prove decisive, particularly because the new voting system means relatively small shifts in support could determine the allocation of the fifth and sixth seats in many constituencies.

The campaign has been dominated by debates over the NHS, farming, the economy, transport, tourism and the rising cost of living, alongside concerns about the future direction of Welsh devolution.

Polling stations open across Wales from 7:00am until 10:00pm on Thursday, with counting due to begin on Friday morning.

The Herald will provide live election coverage online throughout polling day and count day, including updates from count centres, candidate interviews and reaction as results emerge from across west Wales and the rest of the country.

News

Plaid Cymru projected to lead Senedd as Labour faces historic collapse

Published

8 hours ago

May 6, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Final poll suggests Welsh politics could be on the brink of a major realignment

PLAID CYMRU is on course to become the largest party in the Senedd, according to the final YouGov MRP projection for ITV Cymru Wales before polling day.

The model suggests Labour’s century-long dominance of Welsh elections could be coming to an end, with Plaid projected to win 43 seats in the newly expanded 96-member Senedd.

Reform UK is forecast to finish second on 34 seats, while Labour is projected to fall to just 12.

The poll, based on responses from more than 4,600 adults between April 25 and May 4, puts Plaid Cymru on 33% of the vote, ahead of Reform UK on 29%. Labour is on 12%, the Conservatives on 9%, the Greens on 8% and the Liberal Democrats on 6%.

Labour facing major losses

The projection points to a dramatic collapse in Labour support across Wales.

YouGov’s central estimate would represent a notional loss of 32 seats for Labour compared with the 2021 result under the new electoral system.

It would also be Labour’s worst result at any major Welsh election since 1906.

The model suggests Labour may fail to top the poll in any of the 16 new Senedd constituencies, and could return no members at all in four of them.

In west Wales, Labour’s support is projected to have fallen into single figures in some areas.

First Minister Eluned Morgan, who leads Labour’s list in Ceredigion Penfro, could also be at risk if the projection proves accurate.

Reform surge

Reform UK is projected to make major gains, rising from just 1% of the vote in 2021 to 29% in the final pre-election model.

The party’s support appears to be spread widely across Wales, though it is weaker in Cardiff and strongest in parts of the south Wales valleys.

One of the most striking projections is in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, which includes the Merthyr Tydfil area where Keir Hardie was elected as Wales’s first Labour MP in 1900.

There, YouGov’s central estimate puts Reform UK narrowly ahead on 34%, Plaid Cymru on 33%, and Labour on 14%.

Smaller parties

The Conservatives are projected to win just four seats, which would be their weakest devolved election result.

That would leave them one short of the five members needed to form an official political group in the Senedd.

The Greens are forecast to enter the Senedd for the first time, winning two seats in Cardiff.

The Liberal Democrats are projected to win one seat in Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, keeping Jane Dodds in the Senedd.

No majority expected

No party is projected to win the 49 seats needed for an outright majority.

YouGov’s modelling suggests Plaid Cymru would be best placed to lead the next Welsh Government, but would probably need support from another party.

Plaid and Labour together reach a majority in most of the model’s simulations, while a Plaid-Green arrangement does so far less often.

A Reform-Conservative majority appears unlikely in the projection.

Under the new D’Hondt voting system, small movements in vote share could still make a significant difference, particularly for the final seats in each constituency.

Polling stations open tomorrow, Thursday, May 7.