Bill to exonerate wrongly convicted sub-postmasters.
Sub-postmasters wrongly convicted as a result of the faulty Horizon IT system will automatically be exonerated under proposed legislation introduced to the Scottish Parliament today.
Those whose convictions are quashed under the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Bill will then be able to access the UK Government financial redress scheme.
The Bill’s passage through the Scottish Parliament will be expedited to allow justice and redress to be delivered to victims as swiftly as possible in line with the UK Bill, which was not extended to cover sub-postmasters in Scotland.
SNP MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Natalie Don, said:
“The Horizon scandal is one of the largest miscarriages of justice in the UK, which ruined the lives of sub-postmasters and their families.
“The quickest, easiest route to overturn these would have been for the UK Government to extend their Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill to cover sub-postmasters in Scotland. However, the Scottish Government’s repeated requests for this were refused.
“The Scottish Government’s Bill, therefore, mirrors that of UK legislation to ensure parity for affected sub-postmasters in Scotland with those elsewhere in the UK and to ensure access to the UK Government’s compensation scheme.
“The scale of the scandal and the length of time that the victims have waited for justice means the government is taking an unprecedented step of introducing legislation to right this terrible wrong and asking Parliament for it to be processed as an emergency Bill.
“The Scottish Government will not do anything to jeopardise equality and parity for victims, so the final stage of the Bill cannot be considered in the Scottish Parliament until after the UK legislation has been passed. This will ensure that MSPs can take account of any amendments made to the UK Bill.”