Post Office (Horizon System) Offences (Scotland) Act 2024

Quashing of convictions

1 Quashing of convictions for relevant offences

(1) Every conviction to which this Act applies is quashed on the coming into force of this Act.

(2) This Act applies to a conviction in Scotland which—

(a) is for a relevant offence, and

(b) took place before the coming into force of this Act.

2 Meaning of “relevant offence”

(1) For the purposes of this Act, an offence alleged to have been committed by a person is a “relevant offence” if conditions A to E are met.

(2) Condition A is that the offence was alleged to have been committed—

(a) on a date or dates falling within the period that begins with 23 September 1996 and ends with 31 December 2018, or

(b) at any time during a period that falls wholly or partly within the period mentioned in paragraph (a).

(3) Condition B is that the offence is one of the following—

(a) embezzlement,

(b) fraud,

(c) theft,

(d) uttering,

(e) an ancillary offence (see subsection (7)).

(4) Condition C is that, at the time of the alleged offence, the person—

(a) was carrying on a post office business, or

(b) was working in a post office (whether under a contract of employment or otherwise) for the purposes of a post office business.

(5) Condition D is that the person was alleged to have committed the offence in connection with carrying on, or working for the purposes of, the post office business.

(6) Condition E is that—

(a) at the time of the alleged offence, the Horizon system was being used for the purposes of the post office business, or

(b) where the offence was alleged to have been committed at any time during a period as mentioned in subsection (2)(b), the Horizon system was being used for the purposes of the post office business for the whole or part of that period.

(7) In this section, “ancillary offence” means—

(a) an offence of attempting or conspiring to commit an offence specified in any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (3) (a “specified offence”),

(b) an offence of inciting a person to commit a specified offence, or

(c) an offence of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of a specified offence.

3 Identification and notification of quashed convictions

(1) The Scottish Ministers must take all reasonable steps to identify the convictions quashed by section 1(1).

(2) Where the Scottish Ministers identify that a person’s conviction has been quashed by section 1(1), the Scottish Ministers must notify the convicting court of the details of the conviction.

(3) As soon as is reasonably practicable after receiving notification under subsection (2), the convicting court must enter, instead of the record of conviction, a record that the conviction was quashed by this Act.

(4) Where the Scottish Ministers identify that a person’s conviction has been quashed by section 1(1), the Scottish Ministers—

(a) must take all reasonable steps to notify the person, or, if the person is no longer alive, the person’s personal representatives, that the conviction has been quashed, or

(b) if it is not reasonably practicable to give a notification under paragraph (a), must take all reasonable steps to—

(i) identify some other person whom the Scottish Ministers consider it appropriate to notify, and

(ii) notify that person that the conviction has been quashed.

(5) For the purpose of identifying convictions quashed by section 1(1), the Scottish Ministers must, in particular, consider any representations made to the Scottish Ministers which claim that a person has been convicted of a relevant offence, whether or not made by that person.

(6) In this section, “the convicting court”, in relation to a person’s conviction, means the court by or before which the person was convicted.