Eight more former Post Office workers referred to Court of Appeal

A former Birmingham sub-postmaster jailed for false accounting is among eight more former Post Office workers referred to the Court of Appeal over claims they may have been wrongly convicted due to a computer glitch.

By Mark Andrews

Published Jun 5, 2020

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Tahir Mahmood, who kept Selly Oak Post Office, was jailed for nine months in 2005 for false accounting.

But, along with seven other former post office workers, he was on Wednesday granted the right to appeal his conviction.

The decision by the Criminal Cases Review Commission means that a total of 47 convictions based on evidence from the Post Office's controversial Horizon computer system have now been referred to the Court of Appeal

They claim a glitch with the system created financial discrepancies which led to charges of theft or false accounting.

Also among the 47 former Post Office workers fighting to clear their names are Tracy Felstead, from Telford, jailed for six months in 2001, and Rubbina Shaheen, who kept Greenfields Post Office in Shrewsbury, jailed for 12 months in 2010.

Tracy Felstead, left , from Telford, and Rubbina Shaheen, right, from Worthen, near Shrewsbury, have both had their cases referred to the Court of Appeal

Former West Bromwich postmistress Neelam Hussain, jailed for 21 months in 2011, has also been granted an appeal.

Last year the Post Office agreed to pay out £57.75 million to 555 ex post-office staff who claimed they had been falsely blamed for financial discrepancies caused by the Horizon system.

The settlement came after a High Court hearing which led to Mr Justice Fraser concluding that that the Horizon system could have led to people being wrongly accused.