Hundreds of sub-postmasters discovered responsible as half of the Post Office Horizon scandal are to have their names cleared, after the law quashing their convictions was authorised by Parliament.
It was one of the ultimate payments to cross earlier than MPs break up forward of the final election in July.
The law applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the Scottish parliament is to cross its personal invoice to quash convictions.
The case is seen as one of the best miscarriages of justice in British authorized historical past.
Between 1999 and 2015, greater than 900 sub-postmasters had been wrongly prosecuted due to defective accountancy software program known as Horizon, which confirmed errors that didn’t exist.
Many sub-postmasters went to jail for false accounting and theft, and a number of other had been financially ruined.
A public inquiry into the Horizon scandal is ongoing and this week has been listening to from former Post Office boss Paula Vennells.
The passing of the Post Office Horizon System Offences Bill means all convictions will be quashed of individuals convicted of theft, or false accounting between 1996 and 2018 whereas working in a Post Office utilizing its flawed IT system.
Those who’ve their convictions overturned will be eligible for compensation funds from the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, which can be arrange after the laws is handed.
The unprecedented law has been pushed by way of in the wake of the general public outcry caused by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office broadcast.
The law has been controversial with judges as a result of for hundreds of years it has been the job of the courts to deal with unsafe convictions, not Parliament.
But the federal government argues the distinctive scale and circumstances of the scandal imply it is not going to set a precedent.
