The postmistress in the Ayre village of Dalmellington was puzzled. Her computer screen had frozen as she entered an £8,000 cash payment. So she again pressed “enter” three times, to no apparent effect. Unknown to her, however, each time she struck the key she accepted responsibility for a further, entirely fictitious, £8,000. The bug on the Post Office’s nationally integrated computer system created a discrepancy of £24,000 for which she would be held personally liable by her employer. Her life began to crumble.
The “Dalmellington bug”, one of many in the Horizon accounting system built by Fujitsu for the post office, would lead to more than 700 postmaster/mistresses being convicted for theft and false accounting in one of the largest miscarriage of justice scandals in British history, and an arduous 20-year battle with the company that has seen many victims prosecuted, jailed, bankrupted, and have nervous breakdowns. At least four were driven to suicide.
Many more, though never charged, were forced to repay the “missing” millions to the Post Office from their own pockets. Only 93 convictions linked to the flawed IT system have been overturned, and a public inquiry is under way.
Although the story has been known for some years, and the Post Office admitted to widespread failings in Horizon, it was only the explosion of public outrage after the airing last week of the remarkable ITV dramatisation, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, that finally persuaded the government to announce legislation to quash all the convictions and make compensation payments.
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The scandal also raises important issues about the unaccountability of Post Office managers who treated loyal staff like criminals, refusing to question Horizon’s reliability even as cases began to pile up in preposterous numbers. Fujitsi has yet to answer for its role. And the lack of administrative and political oversight is remarkable.
In an era of automation and the advance of AI, there are important lessons here for all governments and big organisations.