A report into a potential “second Post Office IT scandal” has found it is “a reasonable likelihood” that Capture software “created shortfalls” for sub-postmasters prior to the Horizon scandal.
The system, which was the predecessor to Horizon, was rolled out to branches from 1993 onwards.
At least 40 former sub-postmasters claim they were falsely accused of stealing as a result of “glitches” in Capture.
Hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted, as part of the Horizon scandal, between 1999 and 2015 because of erroneous shortfalls.
The independent report into Capture by Kroll, a risk advisory and financial solutions company, concluded it was “a reasonable likelihood that Capture could have created shortfalls for sub postmasters”.
Kroll has not made any conclusions about the safety of criminal convictions.
It did find that 13.5% of all branches may have been using Capture.
The report also discovered that sub-postmasters said that network managers and area managers pressured them to use the system.
It said that legal investigation teams weren’t looking at the question of “bugs or errors” in the system at the time.
Kroll also questioned the Capture Helpdesk remit and effectiveness.
Earlier this year, Sky News revealed that the government agreed to have an independent expert review evidence of Capture.
A group of sub-postmasters submitted material, including floppy disks containing the software, to investigators.
They claimed that errors occurred when upgrades were made to Capture, and power cuts were also another possible reason for faults.
Neil Hudgell, solicitor at Hudgells solicitors, told Sky News that if the report was “positive”, as he believed it would be, “there needs to be a platform to move forward with exoneration and reparation”.
He added: “Whether that is through further legislation or referral to the CCRC (Criminal Cases Review Commission), for those convicted, or a new scheme for those who suffered lesser issues – such as dismissal and financial loss – remains to be worked out but I think whatever the platform, it needs to be speedy.”
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Steve Marston, 68, says he was wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting after errors caused by Capture accounting software.
Auditors found shortfalls of £79,000 at his branch in Greater Manchester in 1998 – he subsequently pleaded guilty to theft and false accounting.
He said Capture “was totally unfit for use and should never have been released”.
He claims that sub-postmasters were told that “[the software] would make our lives easier and that we would no longer have to do manual accounting as we had in the past”.
He says he was given Capture by the Post Office “and basically left to get on with it without any sort of guidance”.
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Another Capture victim, Steve Lewis, lost his job in 2000 after raising concerns about shortfalls and Capture software glitches.
“I’ve always been looked on as being the man who robbed the post office,” he said.
“I lost my post office, the commercial buildings that I had moved my office to, and was forced to sell my family home.”
Mr Lewis claims he was warned “not to be a troublemaker” and told the issues were only happening to him.
It wasn’t until he watched the TV drama, Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, that he “realised” similarities between Horizon victims and himself such as “unexplained losses”.
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Documents seen by Sky News also show the Post Office knew Capture was prone to glitches which could cause accounting issues.
In January, the government ordered the Post Office to investigate the claims related to Capture.
