Greenock victims of Horizon scandal raised at Holyrood

West Scotland MSP Jamie Greene spoke up in Holyrood for both Keith Macaldowie, who ran the Angus Road post office, and Ravinder Naga, who was convicted of theft after £35,000 went missing from his mother's branch in Belville Street.

He addressed both their plights during a debate to pass new laws exonerating sub post masters who were convicted of theft.

Mr Greene says that while both men in his home town and their families lives have been destroyed by scandal, it is unclear if the new laws will right any wrongs for them.

In the chamber he said: "I want to start by paying tribute to the sub post masters and their families up and down the country because what happened to them should never have happened and it should never happen again.

"I think that sadly even though we will pass this Bill today there is a whole cohort of people that this bill offers no recourse or much comfort or at very least still remains some doubt if and at the very least still remains some doubt whether they are covered by it or not."

He then raised the cases of Mr Macaldowie and Mr Naga, pointing out both involving post offices in his home town.

The MSP said: "Keith Macaldowie has no convictions to quash. He was given that disgraceful ultimatum to resign or be prosecuted. The effect of that is incalculable to him."

Mr Greene went on to warn that the government must ensure that everyone involved in the scandal is made fully aware of the compensation schemes open to them.

The MSP then spoke about Mr Naga, who pleaded guilty to the theft of £35,000 in 2010 at Greenock Sheriff Court and was sentenced to community service.

His case is now going through the Court of Appeal process and the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which looks into potential miscarriages of justice, found that "Horizon evidence was essential to the proof of the accounting shortfall that led to the prosecution".

It also concluded that Mr Naga may "have pled guilty in circumstances that were clearly prejudicial to him".

His lawyers are concerned his conviction might not be quashed because he was not the sub postmaster.

But Jamie added: "Ravinder Naga didn't work in the post office but it was a family business. When told that £35,000 was missing from their post office he took the blame to protect his own mother and was convicted."

The bill to quash convictions was voted on and was made into law last Thursday.

Mr Greene added: "This should and cannot be the end of the journey, the Crown Office and the current and former lord advocates have questions to answer, as to why so many people were prosecuted simply on the evidence provided, evidence that went unchallenged.

"Why did no one question why overnight all these people, dozens of people, had turned into thieves, criminals and fraudsters?

"This Bill today exonerates the victims of a miscarriage of justice, not those who wrongly prosecuted them, they are not exonerated.

Afterwards Mr Greene told the Tele he remains concerned, however, about the way the legislation was rushed through parliament.

He added: “Victims like Keith Macaldowie from Greenock , and so many others have suffered immeasurable anxiety and distress over this botched IT system. But the Bill itself doesn’t cover every scenario or make amends for every victim.

“The rushed nature of it has left questions over how it couldn’t help those in unique circumstances.

"So in the debate I called on the Crown to do everything they can to overturn wrongful convictions, and for both governments to get compensation to those who deserve it. Nothing less will do.”