Post Office Horizon scandal: Former sub-postmaster condemns 'posturing between different parliaments' amid uncertainty over Scottish law

Solicitor advocate says Holyrood wants ‘hee-haw’ to do with the Post Office Horizon legislation

A former sub-postmaster has condemned the potential delay to the exoneration of Scottish victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, describing the legislative situation as “posturing between different parliaments”.

Alastair Redman, who paid “thousands, if not close to tens of thousands” of his money to address shortfalls at the Post Office branch he ran on Islay, accused all major political parties of attempting to “score points” instead of ensuring that convictions are overturned and compensation is paid.

It comes after Holyrood’s justice secretary Angela Constance urged the UK government to extend its legislation across Scotland, a proposal that has been rejected. That has led to growing fears that Scottish sub-postmasters, who have already waited years for justice, will face further delays in having their names cleared.

A senior Scottish criminal lawyer representing several sub-postmasters said Ms Constance’s remarks led him to the conclusion that Holyrood wants “absolutely hee-haw” to do with the issue, and would rather leave it as “London’s problem”.

Ms Constance said her preferred option was a legislative consent motion (LCM) that would allow Westminster to pass a law that applied not just in England and Wales, but Scotland too. However, Kevin Hollinrake, the Post Office minister, said it was appropriate the approach for overturning the convictions should be determined, delivered and scrutinised by Holyrood, pointing to the distinct Scottish legal system that saw the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) pursue prosecutions north of the border.

Mr Hollinrake said he hoped the UK legislation would be ratified “as soon as possible” before Westminster’s summer recess begins in July. But given Holyrood’s recess starts in June, it could be September before any Scottish legislation is introduced in Edinburgh.

Mr Redman said such an outcome showed a lack of urgency and political will to help bring to an end one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in UK history. “It does seem like a difference for the sake of difference,” he said. “This is about natural justice, it’s not about the posturing between different parliaments and political parties. And frankly I’m getting tired of everyone – the Conservatives, Labour, the SNP, and the Lib Dems – playing politics with this to score points off each other.

Alastair Redman ran Portnhaven Post Office in Islay for 12 years. Picture: Alastair Redman

“What I want, and what all sub-postmasters rightfully ask for, is natural justice and adequate financial recompense. All we’re getting is one side blaming the other, and that is helpful to no one.”

Mr Redman, who is now a councillor in Argyll & Bute, pointed to the unprecedented legislative response to Covid-19 as an example of how legislatures could act with speed. He urged Scottish ministers to expedite the exoneration of up to 100 sub-postmasters in Scotland.

“I hear that there are procedures, but during the pandemic, all sorts of rules were changed to get emergency funding through and regulate the spread of the virus,” he said. “So the notion that the Scottish Parliament now cannot act just feels like they are being different for the sake of it. This isn’t so much a constitutional matter as it is a matter of justice, and everyone needs to get out of their corners and work for the public, and if it means working together, so be it.”

Solicitor advocate Stuart Munro, managing director at Livingstone Browne and head of the Glasgow-based law firm’s criminal litigation and inquiries practice area unit, told The Scotsman that Scottish sub-postmasters deserved a “noble, proper and fair” approach that delivered “proper public justice”, instead of a “grubby, grudging, strings-attached scheme”.

The exact number of Scottish sub-postmasters who were wrongfully convicted as a result of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal remains unknown.

He said: “There seems to be a very strong signal from the justice secretary that Holyrood wants absolutely hee-haw to do with this, that it would far rather leave this as London’s problem. That’s the only explanation I can think of for Angela Constance’s comment that the UK legislation should be simply adopted. This is just a hot potato that they don’t want to have ownership of.”

Mr Munro, who represented Susan Sinclair, the first sub-postmaster in Scotland whose conviction was overturned on appeal, criticised the time it had taken so far for the UK government to bring forward its legislation. “If they really want to draft a Bill, they can draft it very quickly indeed, it doesn’t take months to do that,” he said.

Mr Munro called on the COPFS to urgently dedicate resources to determine exactly how many people were wrongly convicted.

“The very fact we don’t know how many cases there are is shocking,” he said. “People need to see the workings, and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, who have done an outstanding job, should be resourced to check those cases. Then, there should be a fast-track process where the cases are brought back to the High Court. That way, people get public justice, instead of some government minister letting them go through an administrative process.”

Mr Munro, convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s criminal law committee, also said other sub-postmasters who were impacted by the scandal short of being prosecuted should also be given a “clear commitment” of compensation. That call was echoed by Mr Redman, who pointed out he and other sub-postmasters were left significantly out of pocket.

He argued: “I would like a commitment, not just from the UK government, but the opposition, that sub-postmasters will be paid back every transaction correction, and paid for all the additional hours they worked on the Horizon system, as well as the holiday pay and pension contributions we never got. If political parties can’t commit to that, they’re as bad as each other.”