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The daughter of a former sub-postmistress who died five years after being convicted of stealing from her branch says she is confident her mother’s name will now be cleared.<\/p>\n
Patricia Owen was convicted in 1998 over a \u00a36,000 shortfall from the Post Office branch in Broad Oak, near Canterbury in Kent, which she denied.<\/p>\n
Mrs Owen’s conviction is the first related to the Post Office’s Capture software, which predates the faulty Horizon software, to be referred to the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n
The Post Office said it was unable to comment on individual cases but would be supporting the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) as it deals with pre-Horizon convictions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mrs Owen’s case was sent to the Court of Appeal after her death following an application by her family.<\/p>\n
The family says a report from the time which found “bugs and errors” with the software was never shown to the judge or jury.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mrs Owen’s daughter, Juliet Shardlow, said: “That report is classified as new evidence, so that’s what’s enabled us to go for the appeal.<\/p>\n
“She was one of those people that believed in justice. At no point did she think she would be found guilty. It destroyed her and us as a family.”<\/p>\n
The CCRC, which confirmed Mrs Owen’s referral on Thursday, said it had so far received 34 pre-Horizon conviction applications, though four did not have a real chance of being overturned.<\/p>\n