Mr Bates V the Post Office

[Bill]

It seems like the recent showing on ITV about the postmasters and their faulty computers has sparked outrage amongst the public and rightly so but to me it highlights many of the problems with what’s wrong with this country. The whole legal system needs a complete shake up so that cases like this don’t run on for so many years.

 

Bill 😊

[Confused52]

I agree to a large extent that justice delayed is justice denied. There is a particular failing at the heart of the Horizon mess, in that the prosecutions were Private Prosecutions with the Post Office as victim and prosecutor and that they deliberately withheld evidence that undermined their case. While this was going on the Post Office was ceasing to be an arm of the state and transferring to private ownership but the law continues to treat it as as as arm of the state. It had access to the Police National Computer without having to request information, for example. This is a dreadful story of abuse of power and it started well before privatisation. The responsibility to stop such abuse lay with the CPS and in particular with the DPP, who at the time did nothing.

[Lt Kije]

7 hours ago, Confused52 said:

I agree to a large extent that justice delayed is justice denied. There is a particular failing at the heart of the Horizon mess, in that the prosecutions were Private Prosecutions with the Post Office as victim and prosecutor and that they deliberately withheld evidence that undermined their case. While this was going on the Post Office was ceasing to be an arm of the state and transferring to private ownership but the law continues to treat it as as as arm of the state. It had access to the Police National Computer without having to request information, for example. This is a dreadful story of abuse of power and it started well before privatisation. The responsibility to stop such abuse lay with the CPS and in particular with the DPP, who at the time did nothing.

I completely agree Confused52👍😀

[Bill]

The part that needs changing is the time that everything takes. No problem should take years to resolve but here in the UK we seem to excel at stretching everything out. Take for example the contaminated blood scandal which decades later is still ongoing with many people dying before they receive any compensation, and it appears that the Post Office scandal is doing exactly the same.

The whole process does nothing but continue to feed the legal profession, putting fees well beyond the reach of ordinary people and creating the opportunity for those with money to get away with murder. I’ve had firsthand experience of this with my business when a large multinational deliberately defaulted on a large payment and then began producing an identical copy of my product. Even though I was the innocent party, I was suddenly in deep debt and in no position to legally challenge them. I lost the business for a couple of years as a result, but in the end they got their comeuppance as every one of their customers eventually deserted them and came back to me.

In an ideal world, innocent people should never be forced to back away from what’s right simply because their pockets aren’t deep enough. We need something along the lines of Judge Judy where common sense justice replaces the arguments of lawyers.

 

Bill 😊

[Bill]

As a follow on from what I said yesterday; Rishi Sunak said the whole process has gone on for too long and needs speeding up. He added that individuals shouldn’t have to apply to their accuser in order to get a wrongful conviction overturned, and in an ideal world we should just expunge all of the accused in one go and move on. Fine words but lacking the balls to see it through. He then went on to say that in order to do this, the law would have to change and that would involve lengthy legal arguments and parliamentary debates.

I say in my ideal world, any legal expert or politician who objects to such a move should be featured in another documentary series that would highlight their self-justifying nit picking and show it for what it’s worth.  

 

Bill 😊

[Observer II]

What amazes me is the pathetic whimpers of MPs, calling for that PO CEO to give up her CBE;  imo she should be facing criminal charges and a possible prison sentence, and perhaps Ed Davy MP, should be in the dock with her.   Seems at the time Starmer was DPP and could have intervened in the PO's powers of prosecution, but didn't, so perhaps he should be in the dock too !        😠

[Lt Kije]

On 1/8/2024 at 9:17 AM, Bill said:

As a follow on from what I said yesterday; Rishi Sunak said the whole process has gone on for too long and needs speeding up. He added that individuals shouldn’t have to apply to their accuser in order to get a wrongful conviction overturned, and in an ideal world we should just expunge all of the accused in one go and move on. Fine words but lacking the balls to see it through. He then went on to say that in order to do this, the law would have to change and that would involve lengthy legal arguments and parliamentary debates.

I say in my ideal world, any legal expert or politician who objects to such a move should be featured in another documentary series that would highlight their self-justifying nit picking and show it for what it’s worth.  

 

Bill 😊

I Agree Bill

[Observer II]

😆