Michael Madden

Hundreds of postmasters and subpostmasters across the UK, including in Northern Ireland, were wrongly accused of theft based on data provided by the faulty Horizon accounting system used by the Post Office.

The scandal led to legislation to quash criminal convictions and a redress scheme for victims.

It has now emerged that the Capture software, which the Post Office used in the 1990s before switching to Horizon, was also faulty.

“While we assume that the number of affected postmasters is fewer than those affected by the Horizon scandal, because the software was not rolled out to all branches, it is still an appalling miscarriage of justice if postmasters were prosecuted for crimes they did not commit,” UK government minister Gareth Thomas said this week.

He said the government is “considering the right form of redress for victims who have suffered” and invited potential victims to come forward.

Michael Madden of Belfast-based Madden & Finucane Solicitors said the announcement “confirms that the Post Office Horizon miscarriage of justice is even wider than first thought”.

“We represent a number of former sub-postmasters who suffered the same losses under the Capture system, as those suffered by victims of Horizon,” he said.

“We will be liaising with government officials to ensure that today’s announcement applies equally to Northern Ireland, and to ensure that redress for Capture victims is on an equal footing as Horizon victims.

“In the past week, we have secured £400,000 of redress payments for clients, and will continue to press for swift resolution to all outstanding redress claims.”