Wrongly convicted post office scandal victims will be pardoned under new emergency law

Victims of the Post Office scandal who were wrongly convicted will be pardoned under a new emergency law, the Prime Minister has announced.

The Government promised to speedily introduce new legislation which will clear the names of hundreds of postmasters who were caught up in the chaos which was caused by a IT glitch in the system.

Rishi Sunak has been under increasing pressure from MPs to act efficiently and exonerate the people who were wrongly accused of swindling money from Post Office branches across the UK due to the flawed technology.

Downing Street says compensation has already been paid to more than 2,700 claimants, but hundreds more were also prosecuted over shortfalls in their shops caused by software errors.

Rishi Sunak said at Prime Minister's Questions today: "Today I can announce that we will introduce new primary legislation to make sure that those convicted as a result of the Horizon scandal are swiftly exonerated and compensated.

"We will also introduce a new up-front payment of £75,000 for the vital GLO (group litigation order) group of postmasters."

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The PM said the Post Office scandal was 'one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history', while discussing the impact on victims who had their 'lives and reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own'.

Postal services minister Kevin Hollinrake had hinted that the Government was ready to take action, saying they were 'very, very close' to announcing its plans during a chat with Sky News early on Wednesday.

He also said another 130 victims had come forward after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which explores the shocking scandal, was broadcast.

The four-part drama showed the experiences of numerous sub postmasters who were wrongly accused and convicted of theft and fraud due to an IT glitch where their computer system incorrectly logged their outlet's finances.

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Some victims were even jailed for crimes they didn’t commit, while others lost everything and were financially ruined.

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells announced she will hand back her CBE after being hit by backlash from viewers of the ITV show, which reignited public rage about the case.

A petition was launched demanding that Vennells lose her honour, which gained over a million signatures.

She was chief executive of Post Office Limited between 2012 and 2019, and during the time she was in charge the Post Office repeatedly denied there was an issue with the Horizon system.

She had been awarded a CBE in December 2018, but following the broadcasting of Mr Bates vs the Post Office calls for her to hand back the honour had intensified.