Jailed former post office workers have their appeals heard in court
Four former post office workers from the West Midlands who were jailed for financial irregularities they say was caused by a computer glitch are having their cases heard by the Court of Appeal.
Rubbina Shaheen, from Shrewsbury, Tracy Felstead from Telford, are among 42 former post-office staff whose cases are being heard in the Court of Appeal this week.
Carl Page, who kept a post office in Rugeley, and Neelam Hussain who kept a branch in West Bromwich, will also have their appeal heard.
Mrs Shaheen, 55, was jailed for 12 months in 2010 for false accounting relating to financial discrepancies at Greenfields Post Office in Shrewsbury, where she was sub-postmistress.
Miss Felstead, now 38, was a 19-year-old counter clerk when she was jailed for six months in 2001 for allegedly stealing £11,500.
Mr Page, 54, who kept the post office in Anson Street, Rugeley, was jailed for two years in 2007 for allegedly stealing £94,000 from the branch. Mrs Hussain, 32, who kept the post office in West Bromwich’s Farley Centre, was jailed for 21 months in 2011 for allegedly stealing £83,000.
The cases are being heard by the Court of Appeal following a review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
They say that the financial discrepancies were caused by a glitch in the Post Office's Horizon database, which records all transactions taking place in the branch.
In a separate civil case, a High Court ruled that the Horizon system contained "bugs, errors and defects" and that there was a material risk shortfalls in branch accounts were caused by the system. The Post Office settled the civil claim brought by more than 550 claimants for £57.75 million, without admitting liability, in December 2019.
Mr Tim Moloney QC, speaking on behalf of the former post-office workers, said that the Post Office now conceded that 39 of the 42 appeals should now be allowed on the basis that "they did not or could not have a fair trial".
He said many of those 39 appellants had "pleaded guilty in the face of the difficulties that they faced in defending themselves, being deprived of any meaningful way of defending themselves".
Mr Moloney told the court: "All had the shame and humiliation of arrest and prosecution.
"All experienced the enormous psychological toll associated with that process."
He added that many "received a custodial sentence - many immediately went to prison".
Mr Moloney continued: "Some saw their marriages break up, others suffered bankruptcy and some are dead, having gone to their graves with their previous convictions still extant."
Mr Moloney said extensive damage was caused by "unfair recovery of alleged debt and unfair trials stemming from the defective software and an abject failure on the part of the respondents to effectively assess, let alone effectively address, the defects in that software".
He also said that there were "concerns" about the Horizon system "from the very outset".
The hearing before Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Picken and Mrs Justice Farbey is expected to conclude on Thursday or Friday, and it is expected that they will give their ruling at a later date.
