Greenock subpostmaster's son wins bid to have theft conviction quashed

A man who was caught up in the Horizon computer post office scandal has succeeded in his bid to have his theft conviction quashed.

Ravinder Naga, 48, won his legal battle to have his name cleared after appeal judges quashed his theft conviction administratively on Thursday.

The 48-year-old was was sentenced to 300 hours community service in February 2010 after pleading guilty to a charge of stealing £35,000 from the post office where his mother worked at in Greenock, Inverclyde.

The missing cash was uncovered during an audit by Post Office investigators – it lead to the temporary closure of the branch in May 2009.

Lawyers for Mr Naga sought to have his conviction quashed as they believed that in the absence of evidence from the faulty IT system, there wouldn’t be enough evidence available to find him guilty of any offence.

On Thursday, officials at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh confirmed that his case had been dealt with.

More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system. It has been called the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice.

The Post Office itself took many cases to court, prosecuting 700 people between 1999 and 2015. Another 283 cases were brought by other bodies, including the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Many sub-postmasters went to prison for false accounting and theft, and many were financially ruined.

In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office. In 2019, it agreed to pay them £58m in compensation, but much of the money went on legal fees.

The Metropolitan Police is investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences.

The Scottish appeal court was dealing with cases involving a number of sub-postmasters which has been sent to it by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC).

The body investigates potential miscarriages of justice and it believed issues surrounding six sub-postmasters should be looked at by appeal judges.

The six were entitled to appeal against the convictions for crimes of dishonesty arising from their roles.

The SCCRC referred the cases of Ms Kloosterhuis, 64, William Quarm, who was being represented posthumously, Susan Sinclair, 57, Colin Smith, 62, Judith Smith, 60, and Robert Thomson, 63, to the appeal court.

The SCCRC concluded the five who pled guilty did so in circumstances that were, or could be said to be, clearly prejudicial to them.

It also concluded that new information about Horizon would have had a material bearing on a ‘critical issue’ at Mrs Sinclair’s trial and may have explained why there was a shortfall of funds at the Post Office branch where she worked.

Mrs Sinclair was convicted of one charge of embezzlement. Mrs Smith pled guilty to one charge of fraud and Mr Quarm and the other three accused to one charge of embezzlement each.

The other cases date from 2012, when Aleid Kloosterhuis pled guilty, at Campbeltown Sheriff Court, to one charge of embezzlement and was sentenced to 12 months in jail.

In 2013, Mr Smith pled guilty at Dunfermline Sheriff Court to one charge of embezzlement and was ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work.

At a hearing last year, Ms Sinclair’s and Mr Quarm’s convictions were quashed. Earlier this year, appeal judges quashed the convictions of Mr Smith and Mrs Smith. Aleid Kloosterhuis also had her conviction quashed.

In 2010, the Greenock Telegraph newspaper reported Mr Naga’s solicitor Jim Friel telling the court that his client, who had initially been charged along with his mother, had gone to police and given a voluntary statement.

Mr Friel added: “This outlined his involvement in the offence and gave the Crown sufficient evidence to incriminate him and drop the charges against his mother.

“Although it wasn’t embezzlement, it was still a breach of trust and has caused great pain to his mother, who has forgiven him for what he has done.

“Mr Naga has given a cheque here today for £35,000 which can be repaid in compensation to the Post Office.”

Sheriff John Herald told Naga that the matter could be dealt with by way of a non custodial disposal.

He told Naga: “You have come very close to hearing a cell door clang behind you because this is an offence that merits prison.”

Now Mr Naga’s name has been cleared.