CLACTON MP Giles Watling has called for the Post Office to be stripped of its prosecution powers following the Horizon scandal.
Ministers yesterday faced calls in the Commons to strip the Post Office of its prosecution powers.
Addressing justice minister Mike Freer, Mr Watling asked: “In light of the Post Office scandal does he agree that it is not just imperative that we clear the backlog as quickly as possible… but also enable the justice secretary next to him to strip the Post Office of its powers to independently prosecute?”
Mr Freer replied: “We are urgently working on the detail of how to clear the names of the postmasters as quickly as possible and further details will be announced in due course.
“There should be no disparity between the standard of justice for private and public prosecutions and we will carefully consider the findings of Sir Wyn Williams’ inquiry.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions today that subpostmasters were victims of “one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation’s history”.
It came as the government announced a new law to exonerate hundreds of Post Office branch managers caught up in the Horizon IT scandal is set to be introduced.
He told MPs: “We will introduce new primary legislation to ensure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.”
Ex-subpostmasters Val and Carlo Guglielmi said their former colleagues across much of north Essex avoided prosecutions as they were “fortunate enough” to have “people with enough experience to turn to” if there were problems.
Mrs Guglielmi, whose CV boasts 45 years of service with the Post Office, said: “Right from the beginning it was putting out wrong things and it was so new to what it used to be – pencil and paper.”
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells said yesterday she will hand back her CBE after the airing of the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office which brought the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpostmasters to further attention.
Post Office said yesterday: “We are doing all we can to put right the wrongs of the past, including providing full and fair compensation for those affected.
“Offers of more than £138million have been made to around 2,700 postmasters, the majority of which are agreed and paid. Interim payments continue to be made in other cases which have not yet been resolved.”
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