Reporting the class action against the Post Office at the High Court

Further to my post on 1 Dec about the Criminal Cases Review Commission. They’ve sent letters to the 30-odd former Subpostmasters whose cases they are reviewing telling them they will not be making any decision about their cases at least until after the first judgment in the Bates and others v Post Office litigation.

Miles Trent, Case Review Manager writes:

“I can now confirm the Commissioners have met to discuss the cases and have decided the CCRC must wait for the first judgment of the High Court in the Group Litigation (the judgment in the ‘Common Issues’ trial) before issuing any decisions in the CCRC cases under review. Once the CCRC has obtained and considered that judgment – which is expected in January 2019 – the CCRC will take a view on whether it must also wait for the second High Court judgment (regarding the ‘Horizon’ trial) before it can issue any decisions in these cases.”

A decision will be made on that latter point at the end of February 2019.

The former Subpostmasters cases were taken on by the CCRC in Spring 2015. If the CCRC decides they should go to appeal, their cases will be heard at the Appeal Court. Whether they will be heard together, individually, or indeed whether the CCRC will only allow some cases to go forward is still not known.

There is a lot riding on this for this group of former Subpostmasters. As well as losing their livelihoods and investments they were given criminal convictions and some were thrown in prison. Many of them started the fight to clear their names nine years ago.

Let’s see what 2019 brings.

Speaking of which, could I wish everyone reading this (of whatever faith) this a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. I hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable break. I’ll keep the blog posts coming as the first judgment approaches.