Post Office scandal, Uist case to feature in inquiry

​Public outrage has mounted in recent days after the television drama “Mr Bates vs the Post Office” drew the human costs to the attention of a much wider audience.

Sadly, the story has a local dimension as one of the postmasters who was wrongfully prosecuted was Bill Quarm, the sub-postmaster in Paible, North Uist, whose conviction in 2010 is now one of only two in Scotland that has been fully quashed. Mr Quarm died in 2012.

The public inquiry under Sir Wyn Jones is moving into a new phase which is headed: “'Action against Sub-postmasters and others: policy making, audits and investigations, civil and criminal proceedings, knowledge of and responsibility for failures in investigation and disclosure”.

This involves a number of “criminal prosecution case studies” including two in Scotland. The relevant evidence will be heard at Aldwych House in London and can be viewed via the inquiry’s YouTube channel.

In relation to the North Uist case, the witnesses listed to appear include Robert Daily and Raymond Grant, both described as “former Post Office investigators” involved in the case of Mr Quarm.

On Thursday January 25th, the witness listed to appear is David Teale, a “lawyer involved in the prosecution of William Quarm”. Mr Teale is a partner in the Stornoway firm of Maciver and Teale.

Mr Quarm’s case was among six referred so far to the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, after an investigation confirmed they had potentially been wrongly convicted. Only two have been finally quashed.

When this was finalised in September, a lawyer representing sub-postmasters and their dependents throughout the UK, David Enright, said he was "at a loss" as to why the decision had taken so long.

Mr Enright told BBC Scotland News: "It is a very significant moment but it should have happened years ago. Back in 2021, we had 52 convictions overturned in London. Why have we had to wait more than two years for Scottish postmasters to have their convictions overturned?”

The legal system in Scotland is significantly different to the rest of the UK where the Post Office itself is the prosecuting authority. In Scotland, the Post Office carries out investigations but the decisions on whether to prosecute rest with the Crown Office.

There were are at least 73 Horizon-related prosecutions in Scotland though the number is now thought to be closer to 100. As public indignation has increased, questions are being asked about why no doubts were signalled within the Scottish prosecution service about the extent of these cases.

In a letter to the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board in October the Crown Office admitted that Scotland is "very much closer to the start of its journey" in addressing potential miscarriages of justice.