Keir Starmer today fended off questions over the Crown Prosecution Service’s role in the Post Office scandal when he was in charge.
The Labour leader, who was Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, insisted the overwhelming majority of cases were brought by the Post Office itself.
He said only a ‘handful’ were taken forward by the CPS, he did not know about any, and it was not clear whether they were ‘of concern’.
Sir Keir has been dragged into the scandal since it erupted back into the public consciousness thanks to the harrowing ITV drama.
Hundreds of postmasters were wrongly convicted as a result of faulty Horizon accounting software that made it look as if money was missing.
Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Bury, Greater Manchester, Sir Keir said: ‘I think it’s very important to be clear that these were, or the vast majority of these were, Post Office prosecutions brought by the Post Office in relation to their cases.
Keir Starmer today fended off questions over the Crown Prosecution Service’s role in the Post Office scandal when he was in charge
Sir Keir has been dragged into the Post Office scandal since it erupted back into the public consciousness thanks to the harrowing ITV drama
‘A small number, at the moment it looks like there may have been three or so, a handful of cases, in the five years that I was director of public prosecutions that were handled by the Crown Prosecution Service.’
He said it was ‘not even known what the detail of those cases are and it needs to be put in its context – in the five years I was director of public prosecutions I had 7,000 staff and we handled four million cases. So this was a handful, within that’.
He added: ‘More details will emerge no doubt … it’s not clear whether they’re in the cohort of cases of concern or not.’
While the bulk of the prosecutions were brought privately by the Post Office, the CPS said earlier this week it had identified at least 11 occasions on which it brought cases linked to the Horizon computer system.
The Labour leader was Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013 (pictured) and insisted the overwhelming majority of cases were brought by the Post Office itself
Additionally the Criminal Cases Review Commission has identified a further 27 where the CPS may have been involved.
The CPS said three of the 11 cases took place during Sir Keir’s tenure as director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.
The Labour leader has insisted he had no knowledge of the cases – and the party said any Horizon-linked cases ‘didn’t go to his desk’.