Wishaw MP welcomes three former sub-postmasters who lost thousands of pounds to Westminster

Motherwell and Wishaw MP Marion Fellows welcomed three former sub-postmasters who lost thousands of pounds or were wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal to Westminster.

Robert Thomson, Keith Macaldowie, and Chris Dawson, all suffered grievous cash losses by repeatedly putting their own money into their post offices accounts after the faulty Horizon computer system showed false losses.

All three and Ms Fellows met UK Government business minister Kevin Hollinrake to press the case that Scottish former sub-postmasters should be included in legislation to speedily overturn false convictions.

The UK Government had at first indicated that this would happen, but then said the legislation would only cover England and Wales.

Ms Fellows said: “Excluding Scotland from this bill will mean victims here will have to wait longer for redress.

“The Scottish Parliament was under the impression that UK legislation would cover all parts of the UK, since these were the noises the UK government made early in this process.

“Westminster caused this problem and Westminster should have fixed it. The UK Government is the sole shareholder in the Post Office.

“Robert, Keith and Chris made a compelling case when they shared their experiences with the government minister, however he would not budge, and sadly my amendments received no support from Labour or the Lib-Dems.

“But I will make this promise. The Scottish Government will move as quickly as possible to overturn convictions.

“And for those not convicted, but who are victims just the same because their lives were ruined by the scandal, I will fight for justice for them too.

“People have lost thousands of pounds, their livelihoods and in some cases their health.

“We must get redress, and it must be speedy. The Post Office scandal is a stain on the reputation of the UK.”

In England the Post Office prosecuted its own cases but in Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) had sole responsibility for taking people to court.

The last prosecution in Scotland took place in 2014.

The current Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain KC, has previously apologised for the way those who were wrongly convicted were “failed by trusted institutions and the criminal justice system”.

She said the COPFS was “repeatedly” misled by the Post Office.

The Crown Office has said it is determined to ensure that all miscarriages of justice resulting from unreliable Horizon evidence are identified and overturned.

A spokesperson said: “It was not until the decisions by the courts in England and Wales in 2019 and 2021 that the full extent of the bugs and errors in Horizon became known. Until that point, Post Office maintained that the Horizon system was reliable and safe.”

They added: “The Post Office told COPFS in 2013 that its external lawyers had reviewed all potentially impacted Scottish cases and had found no issues.

“As at 2015 COPFS was not provided with further evidence which was promised by Post Office to demonstrate that Horizon was as robust as they suggested. COPFS therefore decided to no longer rely on Horizon until such time as that further evidence was provided by Post Office.”

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