Scandal at the Post Office

The Intersection of law, ethics and politics

Authors

  • Paul Marshall

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14296/deeslr.v19i0.5395

Abstract

The Post Office Horizon scandal in the United Kingdom, possibly the most extensive miscarriage of justice in English legal history, was caused by a number of interrelated factors. These include: the legal presumption that computers are reliable; the unwillingness and failure of judges to order appropriate and necessary disclosure of documents by the Post Office, where required to ensure fairness at trial; the unethical conduct by the board and management of the Post Office; failure by government – the Post Office’s owner, and questionable litigation strategies adopted by the Post Office’s lawyers.

Index words: Post Office; Horizon IT system; disclosure; discovery; electronic evidence; ethics; politics

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Published

2022-01-11

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Section

Articles