Four more former Subpostmasters have been referred back to the courts by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
They are:
Roger Allen, who pleaded guilty to theft at Norwich Crown Court on 7 April 2004. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
Pamela Lock, who pleaded guilty to false accounting at Swansea Crown Court on 1 November 2001. She was sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £26,071.53 compensation and £500 costs.
Oyeteju Adedayo (known to many as Teju), who pleaded guilty to false accounting at Medway Magistrates’ Court on 19 January 2006. She was sentenced to 50 weeks imprisonment suspended for 24 months with 12 months of supervision and 200 hours of unpaid work.
Parmod Kalia, who pleaded guilty to theft at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on 17 December 2001. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment at Croydon Crown Court on 8 March 2002.
Mr Allen and Mr Lock will likely be rolled into the cohort of appellants who will be heard at the Court of Appeal on 22 March.
Mrs Adedayo and Mr Kalia's cases will be dealt with at Southwark Crown Court (because they were convicted at magistrates' courts, crown courts hear the appeals).
"Unbearable shame"
This brings the total number of Subpostmaster referred by the CCRC to 51. Six of those Subpostmasters have already had their convictions quashed. Of the remaining 2020 referrals the Post Office is contesting three.
Interestingly, Mr Allen was not prosecuted by the Post Office, but by the Department for Work and Pensions. Nonetheless his prosecution was Horizon-related.
It means that it is up to the DWP to decide whether or not to contest Mr Allen's appeal. The Post Office tell me that they have served a respondent’s notice for Pamela Lock’s case but as it's not yet in the public domain they are unwilling to provide any more information about it. No decision has yet been communicated to the court about Ms Adedayo or Mr Kalia.
I have spoken to two of the Subpostmasters named above. Neither wished to comment on the record but I got a sense they are relieved to have got this far.
Teju Adedayo has had her story published on her solicitor's website where she spoke about her ordeal at the hands of the Post Office's investigators, saying:
"My parents brought me up to respect the law, work hard and earn a decent honest living. I’ve been completely broken by this, particularly by how this has impacted on my family and the unbearable shame it has brought on us all."
Ms Adedayo is represented by Hudgells, who also represent Parmod Kalia. Today Neil Hudgell, the firm's MD, released a statement saying:
"We are particularly pleased as whilst we have had plenty to celebrate in the past few months, we have been determined to ensure nobody is left behind.
We have 30 clients who have been told their convictions will be quashed, a significant number more at the initial stage of submitting their cases to the CCRC, and a handful still awaiting decisions from them.
We keep going until we’ve overturned the convictions of each and every person wronged as a result of his scandal.”
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