Exclusive: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has been blasted by the Scottish Tories after refusing to reveal details of meetings held with the Post Office over 10 years ago which kickstarted the Horizon scandal probe.
Dorothy Bain KC, who as Lord Advocate is now head of the Crown Office
Scotland's Crown Office has been blasted after refusing to reveal key details about secretive meetings officials held with the Post Office between 2013 and 2015 about the Horizon scandal. Prosecutors did not fully stop pursuing sub-postmasters until 2015 despite being warned about the potentially faulty system two years below.
It has been confirmed that the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is currently undertaking a review of the up to 100 cases in Scotland where Post Office staff could have been wrongly convicted of fraud or embezzlement. But there is a divide in how this is to be approached, with Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain wanting it on a case-by-case basis, and Humza Yousaf calling for a blanket pardon.
But now the Scottish Daily Express can reveal that the prosecution service held talks with the Post Office twice in 2013, once by phone and once in person about Horizon. But the details of these discussions have been kept secret. A meeting also took place on October 6 2015, after which the Crown issued guidance to stop targeting sub-postmasters based on the evidence provided.
In response to a freedom of information request from this website, an official wrote: "I consider that there is a strong public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of information received by the Procurator Fiscal in connection with allegations of criminality.
"This is both during criminal proceedings and after they have concluded. The information within correspondence between COPFS and the Post Office is held for the purposes of an investigation which the department has a duty to conduct to ascertain whether a person should be prosecuted for an offence.
"There is a clear public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of this information. Disclosure of this information to a third party would undermine the basis on which individuals, including victims and witnesses, contribute to the criminal justice process."
The Scottish Tories blasted this response, urging the Crown to be transparent about what they knew about the Horizon scandal. Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary, Russell Findlay MSP told the Scottish Daily Express: “The Horizon scandal ruined lives and destroyed careers yet potentially important details are being suppressed for no apparent good reason. Post Office victims in Scotland - who were all prosecuted by the Crown Office - deserve full disclosure.”
When approached for comment, COPFS did supply some details and a timeline about when they found out about the faulty system. It said that a meeting was sought in May 2013 by the Post Office, and then two months later they were told that "no Scottish cases are affected" with a report about the evidence requested by prosecutors.
A month later, new guidance was created for prosecutors to consider every case reported by the Post Office on individual facts and circumstances, and then in October 2015, a new policy to not include Horizon evidence was drafted up. In 2019 and 2021, civil cases in England revealed the extent of the problems, with appeal and reviews able to proceeds.
A Crown Office spokeswoman added: "As an independent and impartial prosecution service, COPFS is determined to ensure that all miscarriages of justice resulting from unreliable Horizon evidence are identified and overturned. We are committed to public understanding of the role of Scotland’s prosecutors in these cases and will provide information when it is appropriate to do so, respecting the ongoing legal processes.”