More than 70 cases associated with the Post Office Horizon scandal have been referred by the CCRC to the Court of Appeal. However, this is the first referral involving Capture, the accounting software used from 1992 to 1999, which was designed and supplied by Post Office Counters to replace the manual system in smaller Post Offices.
Patricia Owen pleaded not guilty to five counts of theft but was convicted in June 1998 at Canterbury Crown Court, on the basis of evidence from Capture, and sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years. She died five years later.
The CCRC confirmed this week it will refer Owen’s case on the grounds her prosecution was an abuse of process. Her family had applied to the CCRC in January 2024.
Owen, a sub-Post Office manager at Broad Oak, near Canterbury, was accused and had her computer seized after the Capture system showed an overclaim of payments. She vigorously denied the charges.
Neil Hudgell, executive chairman of Hudgell Solicitors, who represented victims of the Horizon scandal, said his firm currently has 21 cases relating to Capture with the CCRC for review.
Hudgell said: ‘The government has publicly stated that it accepts and understands that, due to the length of time which has passed since the Capture system was in use, there are likely to be issues over supplying evidence relating to shortfalls, suspensions, terminations, prosecutions, and convictions.
‘Our message is that people shouldn’t be put off by having a lack of paperwork, and if they know or suspect that they or family members were affected by accounting issues between 1992 and 1999, they should come forward.’
