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

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.