Post Office Horizon IT scandal: case of former Fleetwood branch operator goes back to court

Thomas Mulhall ran the town’s Lord Street branch and pleaded guilty to a count of fraud by false representation in December 2012 at Fleetwood Magistrates’ Court. He was sentenced to a one-year community order obliging him to do 100 hours of unpaid work and told to pay £2,408 in costs.

However, his conviction is one of the latest to be referred to the Crown Court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) as a result of concerns about the faulty Horizon computer system.  

The organisation has referred Mr. Mulhall's case - and four others - while awaiting government legislation that will automatically quash convictions relating to Horizon.

Although already introduced in Parliament, it is not known exactly when the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill - will come into effect.   A referral to the courts means cases can be considered as quickly as possible.   The CCRC has now made 76 such referrals.

As of the end of February, 103 Horizon-based convictions have been overturned - including 10 cases in which the Post Office was not the prosecutor.

The Post Office has identified a total of 700 convictions in cases that it did prosecute between 1999 and 2015 which might have featured Horizon computer evidence.  

If the CCRC refers a Horizon-related case to the Court of Appeal and that appeal is rejected, then the individual would not be covered by the government’s blanket conviction-quashing legislation.   However, they would still be eligible for such redress after a failed referral to the Crown Court.