Former subpostmistress has wrongful conviction for embezzlement quashed

A former Post Office subpostmistress caught up in the Horizon scandal has had her wrongful conviction quashed.

Aleid Kloosterhuis was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment after she pleaded guilty at Campbeltown Sheriff Court in 2012 to one charge of embezzlement.

Her case was one of six referred to the High Court by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in November 2022 over potential miscarriages of justice.

Her conviction was quashed at an Appeal Court hearing in Edinburgh on Thursday, a court official confirmed.

Ravinder Naga is also appealing against conviction and the case was continued to a procedural hearing in April.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers around the UK were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their shops.

About 100 subpostmasters in Scotland were convicted after they were wrongly accused of embezzling money in the Horizon scandal, and First Minister Humza Yousaf has pledged to get “justice” for those involved.

Many around the UK have had their convictions overturned in recent years.

When referring the cases to the High Court in 2022, the SCCRC concluded those who had pleaded guilty did so in circumstances that were, or could be said to be, clearly prejudicial to them.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said legislation will be introduced to exonerate subpostmasters convicted in England and Wales and he has vowed to get “justice and compensation” for victims.

The Scottish Government is working on its own legislation to exonerate those wrongly convicted in the Horizon scandal.