The Fundraising
15 July 2020 was the date by which we needed to raise the £98,000 to cover the costs of the group engaging legal support to progress our case through the Parliamentary Ombudsman, and thanks to the generosity of all those who could see how wronged the group had been treated, the target was reached with a couple of days to spare. The fundraising continues in order to try and reach the Stretch Target to meet contingencies along the way, but we can now start the work to expose the incompetence and maladministration that led to the group action against Post Office.
You can still support us by visiting our fundraising page at CrowdJustice www.crowdjustice.com/case/post-office-victims/
What follows on this page was the content of the front page during the fundraising campaign.
You can still support us by visiting our fundraising page at CrowdJustice www.crowdjustice.com/case/post-office-victims/
What follows on this page was the content of the front page during the fundraising campaign.
"Following detailed record searches into the oldest cases from more than two decades ago, the review has currently identified around 900 cases prosecuted since the introduction of Horizon which may have relied on Horizon data" - source, Post Office
The Parliamentary Ombudsman and CrowdJustice
What Price Victory?
£86,000 is the average cost of ‘victory’ that each of the 555 ‘successful’ victims have had to pay for daring to expose in Court the truth behind almost 20 years of state sponsored cover up and lies by Post Office Limited. Post Office's conduct and lies have resulted in hundreds of mainly ex-Subpostmasters losing their business, their livelihoods, homes, health and having their reputations destroyed in their local communities.
There have been numerous instances of bankruptcies, imposed debt, damaged mental health, suicidal events including unsafe criminal prosecutions that, in light of recent evidence in Court have now been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
After such a 'victory' the victims of Post Office cannot afford another £46m court case - they're still paying for the last one! The legal funding costs are not recoverable in law from Post Office Limited, the losing defendants, and effectively these and other costs have been taken from the settlement meant for the victims.
But the cover up that has gone on within Government must be investigated, and the most cost effective way of pursuing this now is through the the office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Help us fund the legal support we need to prepare our submission to the Ombudsman to ensure our documents focus on our strongest points in our claim of maladministration by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Help us recover the costs of that ‘victory’, and to expose Government’s failure to undertake its statutory duty of oversight and management of its 100% owned subsidiary, Post Office Limited.
£86,000 is the average cost of ‘victory’ that each of the 555 ‘successful’ victims have had to pay for daring to expose in Court the truth behind almost 20 years of state sponsored cover up and lies by Post Office Limited. Post Office's conduct and lies have resulted in hundreds of mainly ex-Subpostmasters losing their business, their livelihoods, homes, health and having their reputations destroyed in their local communities.
There have been numerous instances of bankruptcies, imposed debt, damaged mental health, suicidal events including unsafe criminal prosecutions that, in light of recent evidence in Court have now been referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
After such a 'victory' the victims of Post Office cannot afford another £46m court case - they're still paying for the last one! The legal funding costs are not recoverable in law from Post Office Limited, the losing defendants, and effectively these and other costs have been taken from the settlement meant for the victims.
But the cover up that has gone on within Government must be investigated, and the most cost effective way of pursuing this now is through the the office of the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Help us fund the legal support we need to prepare our submission to the Ombudsman to ensure our documents focus on our strongest points in our claim of maladministration by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Help us recover the costs of that ‘victory’, and to expose Government’s failure to undertake its statutory duty of oversight and management of its 100% owned subsidiary, Post Office Limited.
Criminal Cases Review Commission, Prosecutions & CrowdJustice
While the whole 555 in the claimant group has yet to find the financial redress due to it, one of the very positive achievements from the judgments of the Common Issues and Horizon Issues trials has been that a number of the group are now able to apply to the Court of Appeal to have their convictions overturned.
The solicitors Hudgell’s are acting for quite a few of the group who were prosecuted to assist them with legal representation. They are also offering free informal advice to others. Unlike the civil action the 555 were involved with, if the Court of Appeal accepts an application to review a case, the cost of that case is met by Legal Aid. However there is still a need to cover the legal costs of preparing some of the applications for the Court of Appeal and for legal work going forward, and now there seems there could be many more than the 39 cases that the CCRC has already referred.
By comparison to the costs we have so far incurred with the civil litigation in the High Court, the funding seems modest, and to try and help we have joined forces with Hudgell’s in order to assist with fundraising through the CrowdJustice platform. Please visit the CrowdJustice page to see how you can assist to overturn their prosecutions.
The solicitors Hudgell’s are acting for quite a few of the group who were prosecuted to assist them with legal representation. They are also offering free informal advice to others. Unlike the civil action the 555 were involved with, if the Court of Appeal accepts an application to review a case, the cost of that case is met by Legal Aid. However there is still a need to cover the legal costs of preparing some of the applications for the Court of Appeal and for legal work going forward, and now there seems there could be many more than the 39 cases that the CCRC has already referred.
By comparison to the costs we have so far incurred with the civil litigation in the High Court, the funding seems modest, and to try and help we have joined forces with Hudgell’s in order to assist with fundraising through the CrowdJustice platform. Please visit the CrowdJustice page to see how you can assist to overturn their prosecutions.