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> currently ongoing in the UK To be precise it is finally getting some of the attention it deserves, both from the public and from the government. The miscarr
by prof-dr-ir 3y ago
> currently ongoing in the UK
To be precise it is finally getting some of the attention it deserves, both from the public and from the government.
The miscarriages of justice date from 1999 until 2015, and the high court ruling (about the software being faulty) that finally stopped the flow of convictions dates from 2019, almost five years ago. Very little happened since then, and in particular no one has been held accountable.
If that delay sounds absolutely bonkers to you then yes, that is what everyone else thinks as well.
- krisoft 3y ago> Very little happened since then, and in particular no one has been held accountable. Even crazier. The Post Office just recently lowered(!) the amount of money they allocated for compensations: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67784706 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67784706 They basically allocated a pot of money to pay the people they have harmed off. But these people had to actively go out and request their conviction to be overturned. Which of course many people were reluctant to do, since it means they would be upturning their life again, and going to court and finding lawyers and etc. They understandably have very little trust in the system. So Post Office just shrugged and decided they don't need to keep that much money around.
- scott_w 3y ago> Even crazier. The Post Office just recently lowered(!) the amount of money It's even worse: they're still fighting hard against the appeals, heaping more misery on the people trying to turn their lives around!
- miohtama 3y agoSounds like lawyers are at the driving seat
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dccoolgai 3y agoIANAL but in my experience, the lawyers would say "doublecheck everything and if we're wrong, pay them so I don't have to spend a lot of effort litigating this". No, I would bet it's a combination of PR flacks and MBA/C-levels who would rather ruin lives than take a clear L on their record.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mcguire 3y agoLawyers don't like losing cases.
- scott_w 3y agoThis is the leadership instructing the lawyers to fight the case. They can stop it at any time but they choose to continue the misery of their victims instead of admitting fault.
- LaundroMat 3y agoEffort = income, so I don't see why certain lawyers would not be willing to do the case.
- dan-robertson 3y agoWhat exactly does ‘fighting hard’ mean? I got the impression that the judges weren’t very impressed with at least some of their appearances in court.
- ndsipa_pomu 3y agoThey're hiding/losing evidence such as emails and refusing to answer questions.
- tuukkah 3y agoThey hire expensive lawyers who are experts in making black look white.
- scott_w 3y agoI think you highlighted it right there. They’re fighting even the slam dunk appeals, which is fucking disgusting, in my opinion.
- lozenge 3y agoThey offer token settlements, require the victim to provide lots of evidence they wouldn't have, and expect them to pay for their own lawyers to invoke legal arcana that would get them a just compensation. https://www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/01/11/hss_scandal/ https://www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/01/11/hss_scandal/
- matteason 3y agoAnd all the while Horizon is still in use and still making money vanish - via both bugs and the £95 million paid to Fujitsu to keep it going for another two years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67940125 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67940125
- alphaomegacode 3y agoSeems one of the former senior executives of Fujitsu now runs a gov't agency that handles contracts to digital services vendors like...Fujitsu. Not sure how the legal authorities work in the UK but people have to be held accountable, regardless of political party. One would think the government's legal authorities have to act on behalf of the citizens not just in holding persons criminally responsible but also compensating victims. https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/tory-donor-fujitsu-post-office-horizon-contracts https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/tory-donor-fujitsu-p...
- tgv 3y agoThe little that happened can be summarized as: the Post Office CEO from 2015 to 2019 got a CBE when she stepped down.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y agoFor those not from the UK like myself that had to figure out what CBE is - it stands for a title called Commander of the Order of British Empire. It’s granted to honor notable service in various areas, including public works like the Post Office. This acronym is apparently common enough to people from the UK that news stories within the UK call it CBE without explaining what the acronym means, so your average UK citizen must know exactly what it means. Most people from the USA are probably familiar with the term “knighthood” or “being knighted” from the UK which is referring to the same award process but higher ranking. The two titles above CBE apparently are what knighthood refers to, known as KBE/DBE (Knight/Dame Commander of the Order of British Empire) and GBE (Knight/Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, the highest honor). So CBE is essentially the third highest honor that can be granted in this fashion. Related to the story, it seems like the CEO in question was forced to give up the CBE title two days ago in relation to this scandal
- at_a_remove 3y agoShe said she will give it back. Which doesn't mean anything, King Charles would have to agree to it. She didn't say she would give back the associated money she got.
- ChrisSD 3y agoJust to clarify, I doubt many people from the UK would know off hand what CBE stands for even though they know what a CBE is. The full name is pretty archaic in any case so it's basically just trivia at this point.
- Lio 3y agoReally? I was under the impression this was common knowledge. Certainly within my family.
- daniel-s 3y agoOnce that happens what is the process to overturn the old convictions?