UK post office scandal

Santan

Over nearly 15 years nearly 700 people have been convicted of theft by the UK post office, with some having been given prison sentences. This is all due to a software issue that was widely known about and reported on to the board of directors, but denied and critics silenced. It seems like the former CEO is the one common denominator in the defense of their system and attack and push for criminal convictions for these workers. Think about it, this woman knew full well that the software was flawed but rather than try to solve the problem, or even acknowledge the issue, she chose the opposite direction and knowingly sought to send innocent people to prison, and destroying 1000's of lives of these people and their families, and what did she get, rewarded by the government and received a CBE title. This woman was also an ordained minister of the church of England. Paula Vennells is one disgusting human, preaching about compassion, while all the time going to sleep knowing she is actively ripping families apart. Once again I think we all know nothing will happen to her or the other directors who tried their best to cover this up.

Overheal

What is and how did the software work?

Gloomtastic!

Never heard of her before your post but a quick wiki gives you the details of her dubious past and how she has started to atone for it. Don’t think this has gone away and there probably will be compensation all paid-for by the British tax payer probably.

The U.K. is not Ireland you know. :rolleyes:

Calahonda52

Overheal wrote: »

What is and how did the software work?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_(IT_system)

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56882496

Overheal

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

The U.K. is not Ireland you know. :rolleyes:

The thread title seemed clear enough to me to dispel anyone of such confusion.

Calahonda52

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

The U.K. is not Ireland you know. :rolleyes:

Not relevant to the issues

Santan

Overheal wrote: »

What is and how did the software work?

System was created by Horizon, not too sure what directly happened but I read over the weekend that 1 person in jail was convicted of showing a shortfall of over 100,000, and that within 4 months of his replacement the system showed another 5 figure shortfall, but this person was also convicted of stealing however did not receive a prison sentence

Overheal

Many shocking things read at that link. Gladly applaud the criminal investigations going forward against the post office/leadership. Ordering Second Sight to burn it’s conclusive findings so they could make their own report absolving them of any wrong doing. Wow.

Unless there was criminal malice at the top I can’t fathom how they stepped back and said 4 dozen separate post masters were all criminals, without thinking there must be some other causal thing happening. It’s not as though they managed to link any of the subPMs together in a criminal conspiracy? 40 something of them didn’t all just independently engage in the exact same alleged independent schemes. Either a breathtaking lack of judgement or actual criminal malice up top. Either way you can’t compensate the suicide victim.

indioblack

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

The U.K. is not Ireland you know. :rolleyes:

We learn something new every day.

upandcumming

Decent, and short enough podcast on BBC Sounds about it. Some postmasters remortgaged their homes to handle the 'debt'.

Fake Scores

We need to stamp out this sort of thing.

km991148

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

The U.K. is not Ireland you know. :rolleyes:

Wait.. wha?

Since when? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:


(You would actually be forgiven for thinking this was an American news section the way some carry on)..


In all seriousness, it was a pretty dreadful case. Lots of people lost the trust of the community, done jail time and lost homes over this. I think they also said three went to the grave as "accused". Its like something from the old ex soviet countries..

redarmyblues

The Horizon system didn't have a database, instead it used a messaging system called Riposte to transport and persist data. Riposte is blamed by industry insiders https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252496560/Fujitsu-bosses-knew-about-Post-Office-Horizon-IT-flaws-says-insider for the problems with the Horizon system. Riposte was developed by our very own An Post and its own counter automation system runs on it.

Donald Trump

Was Pat involved?

redarmyblues

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117002213#Comment_117002213

The software was not fit for purpose, yet it had to be seen to work so the SMPs had to be persecuted to sustain the narrative that Horizon/Riposte worked. They were human logs sacrificed to keep the great boulder that was horizon moving.

vriesmays

Is it illegal to post her name.

redarmyblues

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118663407#Comment_118663407

Who?

@Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661084#Comment_118661084

Lots of people were prosecuted, convicted, laid off and indeed died by directly relatable illness onset or, in very well documented cases, suicide.

Because they thought that was the only way out. Much of this has been widely reported on but no doubt there's much to come.

Who's Pat, @Donald Trump?

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670682#Comment_118670682

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmfriXprSRk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670691#Comment_118670691

So that's the intellectual standard, is it?

Bravo. A load of innocent people got done in by the UK state and global corporations. Could have been your parents or mine.

Many of them went to jail or killed themselves.

You put up a Postman Pat video.

rodders999

Definitely couldn’t have been my parents as they never worked in the postal service in the UK (or anywhere else of that matter).

@rodders999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670723#Comment_118670723

This seems to be your first post in this thread.

Or - wait - have you fukked it up? Is @rodders999 the same account as @Donald Trump?

Oh dear oh dear. Postman Pat is a very unhappy man.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670706#Comment_118670706

You asked who Pat was. It's not my fault if it was beyond your own level of knowledge to know who Postman Pat was

@rodders999

Thanks, @rodders999.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670772#Comment_118670772

You're actually 100% correct and have me banged to rights. Or should I say that I am actually schizophrenically correct and have myself banged to rights.

Dear everyone, I have three accounts, this one, rodders999 and TheDativeCase.

Mods, can you please delete the other two accounts for me? I'd delete them myself only I have forgotten the passwords. Well at least delete TheDativeCase one as I have been talking to myself using that one. Don't delete this one. Thanks.

😉

Ledgebag.

Suckit

More than 700 people were wrongly convicted of offences of theft, fraud and false accounting, in prosecutions between 2000 and 2014, and some of them were imprisoned.

Should that not have set off red flags? Over 700 people in one company convicted of the same crime? Or is that not as unusual as I am imagining?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671014#Comment_118671014

People and organisations aren't great at admitting they were wrong. https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/justice-lost-in-the-post.pdf decent feature from Private Eye.

They were already reporting on it around 2011/12 I think it was, even as there were still prosecutions being brought. Pretty minging behaviour over a stupidly long period of time.