A NORTH Yorkshire MP has announced that 700 convictions that resulted from the Post Office Horizon scandal will be overturned.

The Post Office Horizon IT inquiry was first established in 2020.

The Horizon scandal, which has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history, saw more than 700 Post Office branch managers handed criminal convictions after faulty accounting software made it appear as though money was missing.

Whilst the inquiry continues, the MP for Thirsk and Malton and Post Office Minister, Kevin Hollinrake, has announced that 700 convictions of people caught up in the scandal will be quashed.

Mr Hollinrake is "delighted" at the announcement

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Hollinrake said: "Delighted that around 700 convictions resulting from prosecutions by the Post Office and Crown Prosecution Service will be overturned today after we passed the legislation yesterday.

"Historic day delivered due to support from members across both houses."

The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill will receive royal assent on the final sitting day of Parliament before it halts its business ahead of the July 4 General Election.

The Bill will quash convictions of theft, fraud, false accounting and other offences for sub-postmasters who have suffered as a consequence of the Horizon scandal, and relevant cautions will be deleted from records.

The Bill will apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, affecting those who were prosecuted by the Post Office, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) or Northern Ireland authorities in the years 1996 to 2018.

The Scottish Parliament will pass its own law to a similar effect north of the border, because of Scotland’s distinct legal system.

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The inquiry is continuing as former Post Office CEO, Paula Vennells, faces questioning.

At the inquiry, Ms Vennells said: "I worked as hard as I possibly could to deliver the best Post Office for the UK.

"What I failed to do and I have made this clear previously is I did not recognise… the imbalance of power between the institution and the individual.

"And I let these people down. I am very aware of that.

"We should have had better governance in place. We should have had better data reporting in place that meant we could see what was happening to individual postmasters and to the system. That was not the case.

"At no time did I put the Post Office over the cases that were brought forwards. I worked as hard as I could and to the best of my ability and I am very sorry that I was not able to find out what the inquiry has found out.

"I don’t know today how much wasn’t told to me but my only motivation was for the best for the Post Office and for the hundreds of postmasters that I met and I regret deeply that I let these people down."