Third Post Office ‘Capture’ conviction referred by CCRC

12 Nov 2026 12:33 PM

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred a third conviction to the Court of Appeal based on evidence that Capture, the accounting software used by the Post Office before the notoriously faulty Horizon system, could also generate errors. 

Narinder Aujla, 61, was the sub-postmaster at the Caledonia Post Office branch in Dudley between June 1991 and April 1998. He was convicted of theft and spent four months in prison after he was unable to account for £10,000 of losses after the system was installed. 

About a year after the Capture software was installed, Mr Aujla began seeing discrepancies on the balance sheets. He could not find any errors which would have accounted for the losses he was seeing. 

When the losses were small, Mr Aujla had been balancing the books by adding his own money. This became impossible when the losses were higher. The Post Office helpline advised Mr Aujla to ‘roll the losses over’ to the next week, but each time he did this, the total loss increased.  

In the Autumn of 1996, Mr Aujla’s branch was audited, and he was told there was a £10,000 loss. He was interviewed about the loss and said he did not know what had caused it.  

Mr Aujla was prosecuted and convicted of five counts of theft after a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court in March 1998. He was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment. After his release, the Post Office pursued Mr Aujla for the losses and he subsequently paid back £10,000 in instalments.  

Mr Aujla has never exercised his right of appeal against conviction. 

Following concerns raised about Capture during the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, the Government engaged Kroll Associates UK Ltd to conduct an independent investigation into Capture, which found a reasonable likelihood that it could create accounting shortfalls for sub-postmasters. 

A report by the computing consultancy MFC Partnership, commissioned on behalf of sub-postmaster Patrica Owen by her solicitors in 1997, identified several faults with the software that would not be necessarily apparent to users. In October 2025, the CCRC referred Mrs Owen’s theft convictions to the Court of Appeal on the grounds her prosecution was an abuse of process. 

Upon becoming aware of concerns regarding the reliability of Capture, Mr Aujla applied to the CCRC in June 2025. Following a review, the CCRC has found that, in light of the Kroll and MFC reports, together with new evidence contained in Mr Aujla’s witness statement, there is a real possibility the Court of Appeal will conclude that it was an abuse of process to prosecute Mr Aujla and will quash his conviction. 

CCRC Chair Dame Vera Baird KC said:

“We have had a number of pre-Horizon cases, that is those which relate to accounting systems placed in branches by the Post Office prior to the now notoriously defective Horizon one, which it seems might similarly have generated false losses later blamed on post office staff.  

“Capture is one of those earlier systems and this is now the third Capture-related conviction we have referred to the Court of Appeal, adding to a growing body of evidence that Capture was in that category of ‘guilty’ Post Office software systems which have generated so much wrong and suffering for hardworking sub-postmasters. 

“In Mr Aujla’s case, the new evidence, considered alongside the findings of the independent reports into Capture, gives rise to a real possibility that the Court of Appeal will conclude his prosecution was an abuse of process. We remain committed to identifying and reviewing cases where convictions may have been affected by unreliable Post Office accounting systems. 

“Cases of this kind also serve as a reminder of the profound personal impact that criminal convictions can have. For those affected, the consequences have often extended far beyond the courtroom, affecting their livelihoods, finances, reputations, and family lives for many years.” 

We continue to review cases from other sub-postmasters who were convicted of offences before and following the introduction of Horizon. So far, we have received 40 pre-Horizon applications. 

Of these, 21 were determined by a committee of three Commissioners not to raise a real possibility that the conviction would be overturned, which is the CCRC’s statutory test for referral, and so they will not be referred to the Court. Four have now been referred. One case turned out to be a Horizon case, and so was already covered by legislation. Two cases were withdrawn. The other 12 cases are being reviewed. 

In addition, four Horizon applications are under review.

Notes to editors: 

  1. The CCRC is an independent body set up under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. It is responsible for independently reviewing suspected and alleged miscarriages of criminal justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is based in Birmingham and is funded by the Ministry of Justice.     
  2. There are currently 16 Commissioners who bring to the CCRC considerable experience from a wide variety of backgrounds. Commissioners are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Prime Minister in accordance with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.  
  3. The CCRC received more than 1,800 applications for reviews (convictions and/or sentences) last year. Since starting work in 1997, the CCRC has referred more than 900 cases to the appeal courts.       
  4. The CCRC considers whether, as a result of new evidence or argument, there is a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld were a reference to be made. New evidence or argument is argument or evidence which has not been raised during the trial or on appeal.  Applicants should usually have appealed first. A case can be referred in the absence of new evidence or argument or an earlier appeal only if there are “exceptional circumstances”.       
  5. If a case is referred, it is then for the appeal court to decide whether the conviction is unsafe.     
  6. More details about the role and work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission can be found at www.ccrc.gov.uk. The CCRC can be found on X, Facebook, Instagram (@the_ccrc) and Linkedin.