Lessons from the UK’s Post Office Scandal

In this meticulously researched and argued piece, Mr Morris KC explains the scandal concerning the UK Post Office arising from use of software known as “Horizon”. After canvassing same – including the raft of court overturning of much earlier criminal convictions of the proprietors of retail post offices – Mr Morris gives consideration of the provisions of the Evidence Act 1977 (Qld), being of a kind which were utilised in the UK to admit evidence in the case in which the wrongful convictions occurred. As part of his exegesis Mr Morris – no doubt helpfully for the Queensland Law Reform Commission and Government – descends to the manner in which s 95 of the Evidence Act could be amended to produce a proper evidentiary outcome in cases in which computer generated evidence is sought to be adduced upon criminal prosecutions. The article of Mr Morris is lengthy but – unlike the protracted remediation of the wrongful convictions that occurred in this space in the UK – timely in consideration of the above issues.

Lessons from the UK’s Post Office Scandal