The Crown Office is wholly devolved in Scotland, which is why the situation here is very different.

The Post Office could not prosecute those individuals here—it was the Crown Office that did so.

One of those who was prosecuted was Judith Smith. She pled guilty in 2009 at Selkirk sheriff court to a charge of fraud, after thousands of pounds disappeared. Judith’s lawyer told us that the Crown Office displayed a worrying lack of scepticism about the Post Office’s case, particularly as there was no trace of the money anywhere. Judith was even asked whether she had blown it all on a lavish holiday or whether she had a gambling problem. Her conviction was finally quashed just last week. However, Judith’s lawyer said that the Crown Office should have launched a review of all past Post Office prosecutions the minute that it became aware of the Horizon problem in 2013. It did not, and it took a further two years for prosecutors to dismiss on-going cases that relied on Horizon evidence.

Will the First Minister explain why prosecutions in Scotland continued for two years after the Crown Office became aware of concerns with Horizon? Does the First Minister agree with the Scottish Conservatives’ call for the Lord Advocate at the time, Frank Mulholland, to come to the Parliament to answer questions on the scandal?