Post Office Horizon scandal: Apology from Scotland's top prosecutor Dorothy Bain - but she says Crown Office not to blame

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC apologised to those wrongly convicted in the scandal, and says the Post Office misled the Crown Office

Scotland’s top prosecutor has apologised to those wrongly convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal – as she said 54 people may have been affected north of the border.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said she stands with the sub-postmasters who suffered a miscarriage of justice – but refused to say the Crown Office was to blame for the wrong convictions.

Ms Bain also admitted not all cases will be overturned, claiming they are not all miscarriages of justice.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC apologised to victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal during a statement to parliament. Image: Jane Barlow/Press Association.

It had been previously estimated around 100 sub-postmasters in Scotland were wrongly convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting, based on inaccurate evidence from a faulty computer system called Horizon.

First Minister Humza Yousaf had last week declared everyone convicted in Scotland as part of the Horizon scandal would be cleared, in a letter sent to Rishi Sunak.

The UK Government is looking to quash these wrong convictions after the scandal was catapulted into the public eye by ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office. In England and Wales, the convictions were carried out by the Post Office, which is wholly owned by the UK Government.

However, in Scotland convictions were made by the Crown Office, and the Scottish Government has pledged to work with the UK Government to make sure justice is done.

Pictured: John Hollingworth as James Hartley and Toby Jones as Alan Bates in a scene from the TV show Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

The Lord Advocate apologised in a statement to MSPs at Holyrood on Tuesday, saying: “I acknowledge the harm caused to people in these cases who have suffered a miscarriage of justice.

“The wrongly accused are due an apology from those who have failed them. I do that today as the head of the system of criminal prosecution in Scotland.

“The Post Office is part of that system, and I apologise for the failure of those in the Post Office who were responsible for reporting flawed cases.”

She said she “understands” the anger caused by the scandal, and admitted dozens of sub-postmasters had been “failed by trusted institutions and the criminal justice system”.

Ms Bain added: “I will do all I can to prevent such an affront to justice from ever happening again and to right the wrongs.”

However, the Lord Advocate placed the blame for this scandal squarely at the door of the Post Office, who she said misled and provided false evidence to the Crown Office.

She said the Post Office “failed in its duty of revelation” and wrong convictions happened because prosecutors “accepted evidence and explanations at face value from the Post Office”.

The Crown Office dropped cases where convictions relied on the Horizon software from 2015 onwards, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has since written to 73 individuals who may have been impacted by the scandal.

Sixteen of these individuals have since come forward, with seven cases being referred to the High Court. Just four of these cases have resulted in convictions being successfully overturned.

Ms Bain said this may be because not all of the convictions are wrong.

She said: “Of those written to, only a small portion came forward to identify themselves as possibly affected. This may be indicative, as not every case represents a miscarriage of justice.

“Each case must be considered carefully and with regard to the law.

The Scottish Conservatives have since accused the Lord Advocate of “dodging responsibility” and trying to pin the blame on others.

Speaking after her statement to parliament, Russell Findlay MSP, the party’s justice spokesman, said: “The Lord Advocate failed to answer why the Crown did not come clean as soon as they were made aware of problems with Horizon.

“Dorothy Bain is not responsible for her predecessor Frank Mulholland, but she also failed to answer whether he should explain his role to Parliament.”

Former Labour MP and MSP Dennis Canavan urged the Lord Advocate and the Scottish Government to take “immediate action”.

"The Post Office employees in Scotland deserve speedy action to be taken to overturn their convictions and to ensure adequate compensation,” he said. “Some have been waiting for 20 years or more and sadly some are no longer with us. It would be deplorable for the Scottish Parliament to be lagging behind Westminster on this important matter. Justice must be done and done swiftly.”

Ms Bain delivered her statement and fielded questions after Fujitsu, the company that provided the Horizon software, admitted it had a “moral obligation” to contribute to compensation for those wrongly convicted.

Paul Patterson, the company’s Europe boss, said Fujitsu gave evidence to the Post Office that was used to prosecute innocent sub-postmasters, and added the Post Office knew about various bugs in the software early on.

Fujitsu’s global chief executive Takahito Tokita also apologised.

The role played by the Japanese firm has come under the spotlight, with Mr Patterson saying: “We were involved from the very start. We did have bugs and errors in the system. And we did help the Post Office in their prosecutions of sub-postmasters. For that we are truly sorry.”

Mr Patterson, who has has been in his current role since 2019, but has worked at the firm for more than a decade, said: “It’s also important that the inquiry deals with these very complex matters,” he said. “In that context, absolutely we have a part to play and to contribute to the redress, I think is the words that Mr Bates used, the redress fund for the sub-postmasters.”

In response, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said “we agree that those who are found to be responsible must be held accountable, whether that’s legally or financially”, but declined to “prejudge the work of the inquiry”.

Mr Read, who took charge of the Post Office in September 2019, insisted the organisation had now drastically changed.

He blamed a “culture of denial” for the company dragging its feet on compensation.