Government worker referred to subpostmasters’ legal threats as mere posturing

In 2015, subpostmasters announced their intentions to sue the Post Office for losses they were blamed for in their branches, which a senior civil servant on the Post Office board dismissed as “sabre-rattling.” Despite previous investigations clearing the Post Office of any wrongdoing, the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance (JFSA) moved forward with litigation against the Post Office, claiming errors in the Horizon computer system were responsible for the accounting shortfalls. However, the former subpostmasters eventually proved in court that the Horizon system was indeed flawed, leading to the overturning of hundreds of wrongful convictions. The public inquiry also revealed shortcomings in the civil service’s handling of the scandal, with one civil servant’s dismissal of the subpostmasters’ claims highlighted as an example of bureaucratic failure. The Post Office scandal, first brought to light by Computer Weekly in 2009, is considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.