Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the repeal of section 69 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 on the wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters.

Section 69 of Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), provided that computer evidence would not be admissible unless it was shown that (i) there were no reasonable grounds for believing the evidence was inaccurate because of improper use of the computer and (ii) the computer was operating effectively at the time. This was repealed in 2000 based upon the recommendation of a Law Commission review which identified a number of shortcomings with the legislation.

Section 69 of PACE was replaced by the Common Law rule, namely that a “presumption will exist that the computer producing the evidential record was working properly at the material time and that the record is therefore admissible as real evidence". There are safeguards in place which allow for this presumption to be rebutted if evidence to the contrary is adduced.

We are considering the issues relating to computer evidence arising from the Post Office cases and the findings of the courts where there have been appeals. The courts have raised concerns about the “egregious” behaviour of the Post Office in the way that it prosecuted these cases. In particular, concerns have been raised about the way reliability of evidence from the Horizon system was presented and how failures of investigation and disclosure prevented that evidence from being effectively challenged.

We await the outcome of Sir Wyn Williams’ Inquiry which is examining in detail the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It would not be appropriate for the Government to pre-empt those findings.

Pending the outcome of the Inquiry, the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee will consider current practices and potential problems relating to the reliability of computer evidence, drawing on case law and experience in England and Wales and other jurisdictions.