Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024

Quashing of convictions E+W+N.I.

1 Quashing of convictions for relevant offences E+W+N.I.

(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 England and Wales for a relevant offence where—

(a) the conviction took place before the coming into force of this Act,

(b) the offence was prosecuted by the Post Office or the Crown Prosecution Service, and

(c) the conviction has not been considered by the Court of Appeal in England and Wales.

(3) This Act also applies to a conviction in Northern Ireland for a relevant offence where—

(a) the conviction took place before the coming into force of this Act,

(b) the offence was prosecuted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland or the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland, and

(c) the conviction has not been considered by the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

(4) Section 2 contains the meaning of “relevant offence”.

(5) Section 3 contains provision for determining when a conviction has been considered by the Court of Appeal in England and Wales or in Northern Ireland.

(6) Section 4 contains provision about—

(a) identifying quashed convictions, and

(b) notifying people that their convictions have been quashed.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 1 in force at Royal Assent, see s. 11(2)

2 Meaning of “relevant offence” E+W+N.I.

(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) false accounting;

(b) fraud;

(c) handling stolen goods;

(d) money laundering;

(e) theft;

(f) an ancillary offence relating to any of those offences (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 (e) of subsection (3) (a “specified offence”),

  (b)

  an offence under Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 in relation to a specified offence,

  (c)

  an offence of inciting a person to commit a specified offence, or

  (d)

  an offence of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of a specified offence;

• “false accounting” means an offence of false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968 or section 17 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969;

• “fraud” means—

  (a)

  an offence of fraud under section 1(1) of the Fraud Act 2006,

  (b)

  an offence under section 15 or 15A of the Theft Act 1968 or section 15 or 15A of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 (obtaining property, etc by deception),

  (c)

  an offence under section 20(1) or (2) of the Theft Act 1968 or section 19(1) or (2) of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 (suppression, etc of documents), or

  (d)

  conspiracy to defraud;

• “handling stolen goods” means an offence of handling stolen goods under section 22 of the Theft Act 1968 or section 21 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969;

• “money laundering” means an offence under section 327(1), 328(1) or 329(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (concealing or acquiring, etc criminal property);

• “theft” means an offence of theft under section 1(1) of the Theft Act 1968 or section 1(1) of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969.

Commencement Information

I2 S. 2 in force at Royal Assent, see s. 11(2)

3 Determining when a conviction has been considered by Court of Appeal E+W+N.I.

(1) For the purposes of this Act, a conviction has been considered by the Court of Appeal only if one of the cases in subsections (2) to (4) applies.

(2) The first case is where the Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the conviction.

(3) The second case is where the Court of Appeal has refused to give leave to appeal against the conviction.

(4) The third case is where—

(a) a single judge of the Court of Appeal has refused to give leave to appeal against the conviction, and

(b) the Court of Appeal has not subsequently given leave to appeal against the conviction.

(5) Nothing in this Act prevents a further appeal against a conviction that has been considered by the Court of Appeal.

(6) In this section “the Court of Appeal” means—

(a) in the case of a conviction in England and Wales, the Court of Appeal in England and Wales;

(b) in the case of a conviction in Northern Ireland, the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland.

Commencement Information

I3 S. 3 in force at Royal Assent, see s. 11(2)

4 Identification and notification of quashed convictions E+W+N.I.

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

(2) In this section “the appropriate authority” means—

(a) in the case of convictions in England and Wales, the Secretary of State;

(b) in the case of convictions in Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.

(3) Where the appropriate authority identifies that a person’s conviction has been quashed by section 1(1), the authority must notify the convicting court of the details of the conviction.

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

(5) Where the appropriate authority identifies that a person’s conviction has been quashed by section 1(1), the authority—

(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 authority considers it is appropriate to notify, and

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

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

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

Commencement Information

I4 S. 4 in force at Royal Assent, see s. 11(2)