Postmistress to find whether appeal will be heard
A former postmistress fighting to clear her name after being jailed for financial irregularities could know by November whether or not her case will go before the Court of Appeal.
Rubbina Shaheen, who was jailed after being accused of stealing £43,000 from Greenfields Post Office in Shrewsbury, has been told that a fresh investigation into her case has now been completed.
Mrs Shaheen, who was sentenced to 12 months in prison in 2010, says a glitch with the Post Office's controversial Horizon computer system was to blame for the discrepancies.
She is one of 27 sub-postmasters who are challenging their convictions through the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Mrs Shaheen, who is 53, was originally charged with theft, but the charge was dropped after she agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of false accounting.
But since her release, Mrs Shaheen has protested her innocence, saying the discrepancy was caused by the controversial Horizon computer system.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission is now re-examining her case after hundreds of other postmasters came forward saying they had experienced similar problems.
A team of forensic accountants were called in to look at the claims, and case review manager Miles Trent has now written to Mrs Shaheen saying the investigations are now complete.
He said: "We are now in the position to move into the decision making phase of the cases this autumn.
"This means we will begin the process of briefing the commissioners, who will ultimately decide whether any of the post office cases will be referred to the Court of Appeal.
"The commissioners will be comprehensively briefed on the results of the CCRC's inquiries throughout its review of these cases."
Mrs Shaheen said she was pleased a decision would be made soon.
"It will be a relief to come to some conclusion, fingers crossed, but at the same time it will be devastating if not in my favour," she said.
"Therefore I have to keep an open mind and seek other avenues as to how to fight for justice."
The Post Office, which says there is not a problem with the Horizon system, had previously commissioned an investigation by forensic accountants Second Sight.
Mr Trent added that more information would be sent to the sub-postmasters involved by the end of May 2018.
Second Sight’s report, published in 2015, said Horizon was “not always fit for purpose”, and said the Post Office was too quick to take legal action against postmasters.
But the Post Office rejected the findings, and instead published its own 83-page report rebutting the claims.
In an unrelated action, more than 500 sub-postmasters – not including Mrs Shaheen – are taking group litigation against the Post Office over alleged glitches in the Horizon system.
They claim that the system created records of money that had never existed, leading in some cases to false allegations of theft or false accounting.
