Horizon scandal: Post Office feared PR storm if Crown Office halted prosecutions
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Post Office lawyers feared a public relations disaster if the Crown Office halted prosecutions, the public inquiry into the Horizon scandal has heard.
In a witness statement, Kenneth Donnelly, deputy crown agent for specialist casework said that the Crown Office was approached in 2013 after provisionally stopping prosecutions.
Cartwright King, solicitors for the Post Office in England and Wales, said at the time that the position adopted by COPFS “had been assessed by CK to raise a considerable public relations storm for POL [Post Office Limited] if it were followed”.
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said last week that the Post Office had “failed in its duty of revelation” to the Crown Office.
Ms Bain, who blamed the Post Office for failures that led to victims being prosecuted, appeared before MSPs to answer questions over the scandal in Scotland.
“The wrongly accused and convicted sub postmasters and postmistresses are due an apology from those who have failed them, and I do that today as head of the system of criminal prosecution in Scotland,” she said.
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