Date set for subpostmasters to appeal against convictions

Rab Thomson, Ravinder Naga and Aleid Kloosterhuis all launched bids to quash their convictions after being prosecuted for allegedly defrauding the Post Office.

Some of the allegations date back nearly 20 years.

Two other subpostmasters, Colin Smith and Judith Smith, had their convictions “administratively” quashed on Monday.

Around 100 subpostmasters in Scotland were convicted after they were wrongly accused of embezzling money in the Horizon scandal, and the country’s First Minister Humza Yousaf has pledged to get “justice” for those involved.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week announced legislation will be introduced to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales as he vowed to get “justice and compensation” for victims.

Mr Yousaf said he will work with the UK Government to ensure victims north of the border are exonerated, and he welcomed a decision to overturn criminal convictions of all of those affected.

At the Appeal Court in Edinburgh on Friday, full appeal hearings were set for February 1 at the same court.

Mr Thomson’s lawyer Wendy Culross told the court he is “not interested in compensation” and just wants to clear his name.

Solicitor General Ruth Charteris said more than 700 documents were disclosed by the Post Office in one case in the past week.

Representing Aleid Kloosterhuis, Fred Mackintosh KC said the position is “intolerable”.

He said: “These are exceptional circumstances, in the last 72 hours the political side of the constitution has reacted, perhaps it should have reacted earlier, it has taken a decision which might be described as courageous, but it still doesn’t know what to do with appeals.

“Parliament is placing subpostmasters in an intolerable position – if the choice is abandon appeal now or hope and wait, or run the risk of being excluded.

“The appeals are in different categories.

“There are now new features in the landscape.”

He called for a delay, and said appeals should not be “ventilated in public”, until more information is known about pardons from the UK and Scottish governments.

Ms Culross, representing Mr Thomson, said the ordeal has been a “nightmare” and it is approaching 20 years since the first audit.

She said: “We are shortly approaching on March 20 the 20th anniversary of the audit case in Mr Thomson’s case

“I have sat with Mr Thomson, he advises me he is focused only on clearing his name and not on any compensation scheme.

“He is very clear compensation is not something he is interested at all, he simply wants to clear his name.

“I find it hard to believe new information will now surface.”

Ms Charteris described the situation as “exceptional circumstances”.

She said: “In relation to Kloosterhuis, as always with these cases I understand there may well be reasons for that, the main problem is provision of documents by the Post Office – 737 docs have been received in the past week which require to be organised and disclosed by the Crown.

“Before any decision in her case is taken, particularly to oppose appeal, all available material must be scrutinised.”

Judge Lady Dorrian said: “The court has been doing its upmost to progress these appeals.”

Mr Yousaf welcomed the decision to overturn criminal convictions of all of those affected south of the border and confirmed the same would be done in Scotland, in a letter to Mr Sunak this week.

He said it is “right” normal processes for appeals are set aside to ensure “justice can now be delivered for those whose lives were greatly impacted by their wrongful conviction”.

At First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Mr Yousaf said the quickest way may be to extend the Westminster legislation to include Scotland using a legislative consent motion, but he added the Scottish Government will be exploring all options.