The family of June Tooby, including her widower Ken and niece Vivian, feel deeply sad that she didn’t live to see the government report which confirmed a second IT scandal at the Post Office dating back more than 30 years – but they know it wouldn’t have happened without her.
Mrs Tooby spent years fighting the Post Office over their claim that thousands of pounds was missing from her branch in the North East.
She knew that Capture, the piece of IT software rolled out by the Post Office in the 1990s, was prone to bugs and errors and was likely to be the explanation.
Long before Sir Alan Bates even owned a Post Office, Mrs Tooby was waging an almost identical battle to the one depicted in the ITV drama which reignited public anger over the scandal earlier this year.
In 2003, she was forced to represent herself in the civil courts when the Post Office succesfully sued her for more than £55,00 plus interest, despite the fact she had already been sacked and was penniless.
A transcript shared with i shows how Mrs Tooby confronted the Post Office investigator and his barrister with the suggestion that their computer system was “faulty”.
She was rudely dismissed by the investigator and the Post Office’s barrister, and the presiding judge Mr Moorhouse did not order an investigation into the issue.
More than two decades later, someone has finally looked into Mrs Tooby’s claims and concluded that she was right.
After interviewing dozens of sub-postmasters, current and former Post Office staff, and analysing evidence dating back to 1992, independent investigators Kroll said there was a “reasonable likelihood” Capture errors caused unexplained shortfalls.
The government is now mulling over how to proceed faced with potentially hundreds of additional Post Office prosecutions which may have to be quashed.
At least 2,500 sub-postmasters used Capture between 1992 and 1999, the Kroll report revealed.
All Horizons convictions were overturned using Parliamentary legislation in May.
Capture cases could be dealt with in a similar way although i revealed five cases are currently being reviewed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) which could ask for them to be overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Mrs Tooby died in 2020 but it was the boxes of evidence about Capture which she left behind which have proved crucial in uncovering what appears to be another staggering miscarriage of justice.
“We’re so proud of her, she was a formidable woman,” her family said.
“She just always knew she was in the right,” said her niece Vivian. “That’s she what have said if she were still here ‘I won’.”
During the dispute over the alleged missing money, which began in 1994, Post Office lawyers looked at Mrs Tooby’s case and declined to pursue criminal charges, perhaps realising she was likely to take them to trial.
However, she was bankrupted in the civil courts and her family would like there to be a formal declaration of her innocence.
“We just want her name to be cleared, that’s the main thing,” said Vivian.
“After all these years, we just want someone to say ‘she didn’t do it’.”
Other alleged Capture victims also told i of their hope the Labour government will move quickly to overturn convictions.
Steve Marston, 68, pleaded guilty to offences including theft and false accounting in 1998 after Post Office auditors claimed around £79,000 was missing from his branch in Heap Bridge, Greater Manchester.
He insists he never stole “a penny” but that Post Office investigators told him admitting the charges was the only way to avoid a prison sentence.
Speaking of the moment he heard the conclusions of the Kroll report this week, Mr Marston said: “My wife Jan was in tears.
“It was just relief that finally somebody has listened, somebody has backed us and knows we were right, that it wasn’t us.
“That was the main takeaway, and then afterwards it was just a feeling of being exhausted and feeling numb.”
In 1999, Liz Roberts was sent to prison for thirteen months after being found guilty of mutiple charges including theft in a Post Office prosecution.
She also insisted she was innocent and told investigators how her problems had started when the Post Office introduced their new computer system.
Her son Chris believes she was using Capture and shared her story with i in January as Mrs Roberts was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Tragically, Mrs Roberts, a former nurse, died a few weeks later at the age of 73.
She had already forgotten about her ordeal at the hands of the Post Office but the events had a deep impact on Chris and the rest of her family and he would desperately like to see her name cleared.
“As we know from my mum’s case, there are people who don’t have the time,” he told i.
“If you’re serious about wanting to make things right and get people the redress they deserve then some sort of resolution has to be quicker than it has been [for Horizon victims].
“The Post Office has been dragging its feet and time is of the essence, even more so with Capture victims than Horizon.”
Post Office minister Gareth Thomas told i he will consider the findings of the Kroll report carefully and consult with the Ministry of Justice before making any decisions.
He promised to set out the next steps in December.
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We have and will continue to fully support the independent forensic accountancy investigation established by the Government into the Capture software.
“We have been very concerned from the outset about the reported problems relating to the use of the Capture software in the 1990s and are sincerely sorry for past failings that have caused suffering to postmasters. We remain determined that wrongs must be put right as far as that can be possible.”
Timeline of Post Office scandal and Capture IT allegations
1992: Capture IT first rolled out in branches, with the Post Office promising it will “simplify the task of keeping accounts”.
1995: Staff bulletins sent out to sub-postmasters, revealing bosses admitting Capture IT was experiencing a number of faults. One document from Focus – an in-house magazine produced by the Post Office – lists “a few hiccups” with the software processing pensions, currency and automated transactions.
1996: Spike in private prosecutions by the Post Office begins, with 31 in total.
1997: Number of prosecutions rises to 60.
1998: One year before the Horizon IT system is introduced – 93 people are prosecuted. Former sub-postmaster Steve Marston, 68, is prosecuted by the Post Office for theft and false accounting offences.
1999: Liz Roberts is convicted of theft offences, which her family believes were wrongly based on data from the Capture system. She is sentenced to 13 months in prison. Horizon IT system rolled out in Post Office branches across the UK.
2000: Alan Bates reports issues with the new Horizon IT system, which has replaced Capture.
2004: Lee Castleton is found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his branch. He is made bankrupt after he loses his legal battle with the Post Office.
2010: Pregnant sub-postmaster Seema Misra is jailed after being accused of stealing £74,000.
2015: Post Office boss Paula Vennells tells MPs on the Business Select Committee there is no evidence of miscarriages of justice.
2017: Legal action launched against the Post Office by a group of 555 sub-postmasters.
2019: A High Court judge rules Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system. The Post Office agrees to pay out £58m to the 555 sub-postmasters. Ms Vennells is appointed a CBE.
2021: Statutory inquiry looking into the failings of Horizon and the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters begins. Court of Appeal quashes 39 wrongful Crown Court convictions.
2023: Government announces that every wrongly convicted sub-postmaster will be offered £600,000 in compensation.
2024: ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office airs for the first time. Parliament passes law overturning the convictions of sub-postmasters in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland passes similar law the same month. Criminal investigations are launched into the Horizon IT scandal. King Charles III revokes Ms Vennells’s CBE. i reveals the potential second IT scandal linked to Capture.
By Caolan Magee
