Former Shropshire post office workers win first round in battle to clear their names
The first round in a battle to clear the names of two former Post Office staff from Shropshire has been won.
Tracy Felstead, from Telford, and Rubbina Shaheen, from Shrewsbury, are fighting to clear their names after being jailed over financial discrepancies they say were caused by the Post Office’s Horizon computer database.
Miss Felstead, 36, was jailed for six months in 2001 after being convicted of stealing £11,500 from a post office in London where she worked as a teenager.
Mrs Shaheen, 53, was sentenced to 12 months in prison in 2010 over £43,000 which allegedly went missing from Greenfields Post Office in Shrewsbury.
Yesterday, the Honourable Mr Justice Fraser published his judgment on the first trial of a Group Litigation Order brought against Post Office.
Mr Justice Fraser was asked to look at the contractual relationship between the claimants and the Post Office and resolved most of them in favour of the subpostmasters.
The Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) said subpostmasters had scored an “emphatic win”.
Trial
A second trial, which is now underway, is examining the Horizon system itself, and will hear evidence from computer experts about alleged problems.
More than 550 claimants are involved in a group legal action against the Post Office over the IT system, which it introduced between 1999 and 2000.
Represented by a group of six lead claimants, they allege the system contained a large number of software defects – which they say caused shortfalls in their accounts.
Post Office chairman Tim Parker said: “We take this judgment and its criticisms of Post Office very seriously.
“While the culture and practices of the business have improved in many ways over the years, the Judge’s comments are a forceful reminder to us that we must always continue to do better. We have taken his criticisms on board and will take action throughout our organisation.
“Post Office will continue to defend the overall litigation, which has been underway since April 2016 and is scheduled to continue through four trials until at least March 2020.”
Mrs Shaheen, who now lives in Worthen, is not part of the group in the High Court proceedings, but is one of about 30 former subpostmasters trying to get their convictions overturned by the the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which is yet to give a ruling on her case.
