Video: Jailing of two former Shropshire post office workers branded 'grotesque miscarriage of justice'
The jailing of two former post office workers from Shropshire has been branded 'a grotesque miscarriage of justice' in a parliamentary debate.
Lucy Allan, MP for Telford, held a debate in Parliament yesterday afternoon to discuss the case of 56 former post office employees, including Tracy Felstead from Telford and Rubbina Shaheen from Worthen, near Shrewsbury, who are seeking to have their convictions quashed after a judge criticised the evidence against them.
Miss Felstead, 37, from Telford, and Mrs Shaheen, 54, from Worthen, near Shrewsbury, were jailed for financial discrepancies they say were caused by a computer error.
Watch the debate here:
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In December High Court judge Mr Justice Fraser ruled that the Post Office's Horizon accounting system had caused financial discrepancies which post office staff had been blamed for.
The Post Office paid out £57.75 million to more than 550 former workers in an out-of-court settlement.
Ms Allan said MPs had a responsibility to put the injustice right as swiftly as possible, and that could mean streamlining the legal process.
She accused Post Office management of trying to protect its reputation at all costs, even if that meant frustrating the process of justice.
She also accused the Post Office of embarking on a 'war of attrition' against its former employees, by appealing against every decision to 'grind down' the claimants.
Ms Allan secured the debate following the case of her constituent, Miss Felstead, who was jailed for six months in 2001 after being convicted of stealing £11,500.
"She is perhaps one of the most tragic cases, having only been a young 18-year-old girl in her first job, straight out of school, delighted to be going to work in the Post Office, and ended up in Holloway prison for six months, and still struggling to come to terms with the reality of what happened to her," she told MPs.
"It is we, in this place, who must now find a solution to this grotesque injustice, a miscarriage of justice of immense proportions, and we must do so, whatever obstacles come our way."
Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, spoke about his constituent, Mrs Shaheen, during the debate.
She was sub-postmistress of Greenfields Post Office in Shrewsbury when she was jailed for 12 months in 2010 on a false accounting charge.
"Her life was destroyed, she and her husband lost their home," Mr Dunne said, adding that those responsible for the miscarriage of justice should be held accountable for their actions.
Ms Allan said given that all the convictions were based on the same flawed evidence, the convictions should all be reviewed together as part of a single appeal.
But Post Office minister Paul Scully said the Court of Appeal was only allowed to consider cases on an individual basis.
While he agreed there was a need to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, he declined to commit to an independent judge-led inquiry.
Ms Allan said it was her understanding that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had already committed to such an inquiry last week.
She said a House of Commons select committee would begin an inquiry into the matter, and Miss Felstead would be giving evidence to MPs on Tuesday.
Ms Allan said the Post Office must have no say in how the appeals process was conducted, saying it was solely interested in protecting its reputation 'no matter what'.
