England: Post Office ex-lawyer faces disciplinary action over Horizon scandal

Credit: William - stock.adobe.com

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said it has referred former general counsel Jane MacLeod to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Ms MacLeod held the role between 2015 and 2019, when former sub-postmasters, led by Alan Bates, were pursuing legal action against the Post Office over the faulty Horizon IT system.

The Horizon scandal saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted after the Post Office relied on inaccurate accounting data to prosecute alleged financial shortfalls.

The SRA said the principal allegation against Ms MacLeod is that she “failed to co-operate fully with the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry in relation to a request for her to give oral evidence”.

The regulator has also brought misconduct proceedings against solicitor Nicholas Gould, who acted for former sub-postmistress Seema Misra, whose theft conviction was quashed in 2021 after she served a 15-month prison sentence.

The SRA alleges Mr Gould told Ms Misra he was acting without charge but later submitted bills totalling £60,000 for legal services.

The regulator stressed that both cases concern conduct after the Horizon prosecutions, the emergence of the scandal and the establishment of the public inquiry.

Jonathan Peddie, the SRA’s investigations director, said inquiries into lawyers’ conduct in relation to Horizon were continuing in co-operation with the public inquiry and the Metropolitan Police.

“We can and will act if we find that solicitors we regulate fail to meet our standards,” he said.

The SRA has previously confirmed it is investigating a wider group of lawyers connected to the Horizon affair.