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The Government says Post Office workers wrongfully convicted for theft and false accounting will be offered £600,000 each in compensation. More than 700 postmasters were given convictions after money appeared to be missing from their sites, something later attributed to the now discredited Horizon IT system.
For those postmasters whose convictions relied on Horizon, the Government will now offer them £600,000 in return for settling their claims. Business minister Kevin Hollinrake told the House of Commons: “The Government has decided that postmasters who have their convictions on the basis of Horizon evidence overturned should have the opportunity up front to accept an offer of a fixed sum in full and final settlement of their claim.”
A total of 86 convictions have been overturned so far and for those remaining, the Government says it hopes the latest compensation offer will “bring a resolution to the scandal.” One of those wrongfully convicted in Nottinghamshire was Robert Boyle, accused of taking nearly £12,000 in cash from the Alfreton Road sub post office.
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Mr Boyle was handed a 12-month suspended sentence with 100 hours of unpaid work and an electronically monitored curfew in January 2012 after pleading guilty to theft. An inquiry into the Horizon scandal was told earlier this year that Mr Boyle died suddenly in April, before he had the chance to be fully compensated.
