Judges failed postmasters, says former DPP Sir David Calvert-Smith

Sir David Calvert-Smith, a retired High Court judge who served as deputy prosecutor from 1998 to 2003, was appointed by the Post Office to review more than 900 cases brought by the Post Office against postmasters in 2020.

At a London Law Society conference on Saturday, where he chaired a committee on private litigation reform in the wake of the scandal, he was asked if he thought if some of the judges had failed postmasters. Calvert-Smith replied:

“Yes, I think that’s been the case in a dozen cases that I read in the course of my reading – and probably more.”

“Judges will certainly think about it more thoroughly than thinking, ‘I’ve got a full docket and I want to get on to the next case,’ ” he told the conference.