Misra’s Ordeal and Rejection of Apologies
Seema Misra, now 47, was accused of stealing GBP 75,000 from her Post Office branch in Surrey over 12 years ago. She served four-and-a-half months in Bronzefield prison while pregnant and later gave birth wearing an electronic tag. The Court of Appeal overturned her conviction in 2021, acknowledging the wrongful imprisonment.At a public inquiry into the scandal, Misra rejected an apology from ex-Fujitsu engineer Gareth Jenkins, stating it was “too little, too late.” Misra told the BBC, “Nobody can understand it. He could have apologised ages ago.” Jenkins had testified as an expert witness against Misra, and his evidence was crucial in her conviction.
Jenkins’ Apology
In a written witness statement submitted to the Post Office Inquiry, Jenkins expressed his regret: “I did not know that Mrs. Misra was pregnant at the time of her conviction and only learned of this many years later. This makes what has happened even more tragic. I can only apologise, again, to Mrs. Misra and her family for what happened to her.” Jenkins, who appeared as an expert witness in 15 sub-postmaster cases, is currently under police investigation for potential perjury.
Post Office Managing Director’s Apology
Misra also rejected a similar apology from former Post Office Managing Director David Smith. Smith had sent a congratulatory email to his team following Misra’s conviction. In his evidence to the inquiry, Smith stated, “It was intended to be a congratulatory email to the team, knowing that they had worked hard on the case. However, knowing what I do now, it is evident that my email would have caused Seema Misra and her family substantial distress to read, and I would like to apologise for that… Even if this had been a correct conviction, I would absolutely never think that it was ‘brilliant news’ for a pregnant woman to go to prison and I am hugely apologetic that my email can be read as such.”
Misra responded, “We had my conviction overturned, nobody came at that time to apologise. And now they just suddenly realised that when they have to appear in a public inquiry, they have to apologise.”
Background on the Horizon IT System
The controversial Horizon system, developed by Fujitsu, was introduced in 1999 to some post offices for tasks including accounting and stocktaking. However, the system had significant bugs that caused it to misreport financial data, leading to wrongful accusations of theft and fraud against many sub-postmasters. Misra’s case was used as a “test case,” leading to further wrongful convictions based on the faulty system.
Government Action and Legislation
The UK government, which formally owns Post Office Ltd, has paid millions in compensation to hundreds of sub-postmasters affected by the Horizon software. Many of the impacted sub-postmasters are of Indian heritage. Earlier this year, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged action on this historic scandal. Last month, Parliament introduced the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill, which provides a blanket exoneration for convictions based on erroneous Horizon evidence. The public inquiry into the Horizon scandal is ongoing and expected to conclude in July.
