Post Office Inquiry: victims' lawyer lambastes 'Dickensian' conduct of firm during closing statement

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The “malignant culture” of the Post Office destroyed the lives of the victims of the Horizon IT scandal, not the system itself, an inquiry has heard. The Horizon IT Inquiry was told the Post Office’s “corrosive prejudice” towards subpostmasters and its “desire for absolute control” over them was the “incubator for these terrible events”. During his closing statement to the probe on Monday, Edward Henry KC, who represents a number of subpostmasters on behalf of law firm Hodge, Jones and Allen, told chairman Sir Wyn Williams: “Such heartlessness came from the top”. More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts. Hundreds are still awaiting compensation despite the previous government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts. Subscribe to the Evening Standard: https://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-Evening-Standard for latest breaking news from the UK, US and around the world, plus podcasts and features. Evening Standard on socials: Check out our full video catalog: https://www.youtube.com/c/LondonEveningStandard/videos Videos, daily editorial and more: https://www.standard.co.uk/ Like us on Facebook: https://www.fb.com/eveningstandard Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/eveningstandard and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evening.standard