Post Office under fire over IT system

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Sub-postmasters falsely accused of theft and forced to repay Post Office money they did not owe, campaigners claim

Sub-postmasters running small village post offices have been wrongly accused of fraud – and in some cases jailed – because a controversial computer system was not “fit for purpose”, ministers have been warned.

The Government assured MPs in June that an independent report had found “no evidence” of difficulties with the Horizon IT software used in 11,500 post offices.

However, the authors of the report have now written to ministers to complain that their findings have been misrepresented.

More than 100 sub-postmasters have been unfairly “dragged through the mud” – and in some cases prosecuted and left bankrupt, campaigners have said. One case, it is feared, led a victim to commit suicide.

The IT system is used to record financial transactions in post offices throughout the country. Concerns were raised by MPs in 2012 after complaints by sub-postmasters that they had been unfairly sacked as a result of flaws in the system, which recorded large cash shortfalls they could not explain.