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Lord Beamish (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 12 February 2026

Debate

Post Office Capture and Horizon Scandals

Contribution

My Lords, as the person who first exposed the Capture system, I welcome the fact that victims are now being paid. That was in spite, for example, of the Post Office, which, with all the publicity around Horizon, never publicly pointed out that the Capture system existed. There are 29 cases of individuals who were prosecuted. The Government’s stance has been to refer them to the CCRC, which I do not think is the appropriate way of doing it. Can the Minister tell me why, in the one case that has now been referred to the Court of Appeal, which is Patricia Owen’s case, the Post Office is going to defend against it? Given the fact that, when I first exposed it, I and the campaigners had more information about the system than the Post Office, I would like to understand on what grounds the Post Office is going to resist that case. Also, how much money—public money, we should remember, at the end of the day—will be spent defending the indefensible?

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