Scottish prosecutors to fight Horizon appeal despite SNP backing pardons

Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, has backed calls for mass exonerations for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal – Jane Barlow/PA

Scottish prosecutors are to fight an appeal by a man caught up in the Horizon Post Office scandal, despite SNP support for a blanket pardon.

Brian Gill KC told the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh that the Crown was “minded” to oppose a case brought by Ravinder Naga, who was convicted in 2010 of stealing £35,000 from a Greenock post office where his mother worked.

The missing cash was uncovered during an audit by Post Office investigators, leading to the temporary closure of the branch in May 2009.

Lawyers for Mr Naga are trying to have his conviction quashed as they believe that without evidence from the faulty IT system there would not be enough proof to find him guilty of any offence.

However, on Wednesday, Mr Gill told the court that unlike similar recent cases, the Crown are set to contest the appeal.

He said: “This is the most difficult appeal so far. The Crown are minded to oppose the appeal.”

Mr Gill was making submissions during a procedural hearing which was heard before Scotland’s second most senior judge, Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk.

Mr Naga’s case was among several referred to the courts by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice.

Horizon evidence was essential to the case against him

He was not the sub-postmaster of the branch, but his case was referred on the basis that he pled guilty to one charge of theft “in circumstances that were, or could be said to be, clearly prejudicial to him”.

He had been sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work by Greenock Sheriff Court and paid a £35,000 compensation order.

The commission said Horizon evidence was essential to the case against him and that the “prosecution was oppressive because the process was an affront to justice”.

Humza Yousaf, the First Minister, has backed calls for mass exonerations for victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

However, UK Government legislation quashing convictions, which would apply to family members of sub-postmasters, will not apply in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has pledged to introduce its own legislation, but is yet to publish detailed plans.

In January, Dorothy Bain, the Lord Advocate and head of the prosecution service, claimed that “not every case involving Horizon evidence will be a miscarriage of justice”, in an apparent split from Mr Yousaf.

Ms Bain, who is a member of the Scottish Government, stressed the importance of the courts in reversing previous prosecutions.

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