Horizon inquiry ‘just another book’ unless change comes, says victim

A public inquiry into one of the UK’s biggest miscarriages of justice must result in change – or its report will be “just another book”, a victim has said.

Hundreds of subpostmasters across the UK were caught up in the Horizon scandal, where a faulty IT system showed shortfalls in accounting.

Many were convicted of theft before the fault was publicly disclosed.

Governments north and south of the border have moved to quash convictions, passing laws last year to officially exonerate victims, while a UK-wide compensation scheme has been created.

Convictions

In Scotland, Justice Secretary Angela Constance said earlier this year that 64 people had their convictions quashed as a result of the law.

A public inquiry into the injustice is due to issue its first report on Tuesday, covering the impact on victims.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, Ravinder Naga said the inquiry has to bring about change but he is sceptical it will do so.

Mr Naga falsely pleaded guilty to the theft of £35,000 after his mother was accused of the crime.

“If it’s not going to bring about any change – which the whole point of having an inquiry is to bring about change – then it’s just another book, really,” he said.

“We’ve already had a book, so we don’t need another one telling people how horrific it was.”

Change

Mr Naga said change will not come until the firms responsible – namely the Post Office and Japanese firm Fujitsu, which built the Horizon software – are “held accountable”.

“You’ve got to remember, all this compensation… is coming out of taxpayers’ pockets, the people responsible are not paying the compensation, so why would they not do these things again,” he said.

The Government and the justice system should “of course” be pursuing the companies, he added, describing any profits made during the scandal as “proceeds of crime”.

Asked if he viewed the inquiry as “pointless”, Mr Naga said: “Let’s go back and ask every other person from every other inquiry that’s been done in the last 20 years if they felt their inquiries changed anything or done anything.

“I don’t think you’ll find one that says yes.”

Following his own conviction, and despite it eventually being quashed, Mr Naga said his faith in the justice system had been destroyed.

“I’ve got no faith in the justice system, I haven’t seen any justice,” he said.