Rishi Sunak plans bill to exonerate post office scandal victims

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will announce measures as soon as Wednesday to speed up compensation and quash the convictions of some 980 UK Post Office workers wrongfully convicted of theft and false accounting, a person familiar with the plans said.

The government is considering the viability of possible emergency legislation that would overturn the convictions of so-called sub-postmasters who were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015. Sunak could make an announcement today on the government's efforts to resolve the miscarriage of justice, the person said, warning the work by officials was still ongoing Wednesday morning.

Ministers are trying to draw a line under a long-running saga that left thousands of people out of pocket, with many wrongfully imprisoned, and which even led to the suicides of some victims. The scandal was triggered by faults in a Fujitsu computer system called Horizon that was used by UK post offices and inaccurately reported shortfalls in their accounts, resulting in private prosecutions of innocent branch managers for theft.


Some 3,500 people in total were embroiled in the scandal, with many using their own money to settle the shortfalls.