Academics from the University of Exeter and University College London have begun a government funded project to investigate the role the legal profession may have played in perpetuating the biggest miscarriage of justice in the country.

The study, led by Professor Richard Moorhead, Professor Rebecca Helm, and Dr. Karen Nokes will aim to examine the conduct of lawyers in the affair, which led to hundreds of postmasters being wrongly accused of fraud and theft. Specifically, the study will focus in on how the scandal was allowed to develop over 20 years and the implications the miscarriage of justice carries for the legal professional ethics as well as the in-house legal sector.

Professor Moorhead comments: “The research will enable us to deepen our engagement with the victims affected by the scandal; ensure that the right lessons are learned about what went wrong and why; and work on practical strategies to reduce the chances of such terrible events happening again.”

The researchers undertaking this new project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, will be interviewing key figures from in the scandal, including post-masters, and will subsequently build up individual case-studies to assess how lawyers were involved in the prosecutions and pursuits of victims.

Around 700 people were falsely accused and many wrongly convicted of criminal offences based on the Horizon IT system which was introduced by the Post Office. Many of those affected lost their homes and businesses and were left in debt.  To date, more than 80 defendants have had their convictions quashed on appeal and hundreds have applied to be part of ongoing schemes for compensating them.  A Judicial Inquiry into the matter is also currently underway.