The Insolvency Service is seeking information from postmasters who believe they may have been made bankrupt due to the Horizon IT scandal.
The Court of Appeal and Crown Court have quashed the convictions of a number of former postmasters prosecuted using unreliable evidence, and now the Post Office has contacted postmasters it has previously prosecuted to assist them in potentially appealing their convictions if they want to.
The Post Office says that in some instances, postmasters were made bankrupt by the Post Office Ltd, which have may have been as a result of the financial discrepancies reported, incorrectly, by the Horizon IT system.
Furthermore, due to the financial impact of the situation, some postmasters may have petitioned for their own bankruptcy or made a bankruptcy application to Office of the Adjudicator.
The Official Receiver, acting as the Trustee/Trustee ex-officio in bankruptcy, is now undertaking enquiries to identify these cases, in order to investigate whether these bankruptcy orders should be reviewed.
Postmasters who believe they were impacted by the Horizon discrepancies, should contact the Insolvency Service via Horizoncases@insolvency.gov.uk, and provide the following information:
- full name;
- date of birth;
- contact details;
- court / bankruptcy reference number relating to your bankruptcy (if available);
- where your bankruptcy / adjudicator or sequestration order was made, i.e. England/Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland; and
- a brief overview of how you were affected.
