The wrongful conviction of hundreds of sub-postmasters because of flawed software and bureaucratic denial was “an appalling miscarriage of justice”, Rishi Sunak has said.

The Prime Minister said he wanted all those affected to be compensated and that UK Justice Secretary Alex Chalk was considering new measures to address the situation. 

With an ITV drama highlighting the Post Office IT scandal, Mr Chalk is understood to be looking at whether those wrongly prosecuted can be exonerated en masse.

The Sunday Times also reported Mr Chalk was also looking at whether the Post Office, which is fully state-owned, can be stripped of its role in the process.

More than 700 Post Office branch managers were handed criminal convictions after Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon software made it appear as though money was missing from their outlets.

Despite the scandal starting 25 years ago, fewer than 100 people have had their convictions quashed and many are still fighting for full compensation.

With the TV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office bringing home the scale of people’s mistreatment, Mr Sunak said: “Everyone has been shocked by watching what they have done over the past few days and beyond and it is an appalling miscarriage of justice.

“Obviously it’s something that happened in the ’90s but actually seeing it and hearing about it again just shows what an appalling miscarriages of justice it is for everyone affected.

“It’s important that those people now get the justice they deserve, and that’s what the compensation schemes are about.

“The Government has paid out about £150million to thousands of people already. 

“Of course, we want to get the money to the people as quickly as possible, that’s why there are interim payments of up to, I think, £600,000 that can be made. There are three different schemes available and for anyone affected they should come forward.”

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Also speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, one of the victims of the Horizon scandal said the battle for justice and compensation was “like a war”.

Former sub-postmaster Lee Castleton, who went bankrupt after being pursued through the courts for hundreds of thousands of pounds said: “The victims are traumatised. 

“It has been a long time of 25 years and £135m has been paid to some of the victims, but we have had £150m-plus paid to lawyers.

“These lawyers are putting lots of pressure and it is difficult. The schemes are difficult.

“We are just normal run-of-the-mill people. We have legal people with us but it is so difficult and it is like a war.

“Why would anybody put the Post Office and DBT [the Department for Business and Trade] in charge of recompensing the victims?

“I would love it to be taken out of the hands of the people that really caused it in a way.

“This is not just a computer issue, this is a people issue. People took people to court. 

“People made decisions on faulty data that they probably knew was faulty.

“There are so many differences, so many problems out there that really, to have a completely isolated, separate review and compensation scheme just makes more sense.”

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Speaking later in Oxford, Mr Sunak added: “More broadly, the Justice Secretary is looking at other options for how we can provide support for people. I can’t preempt those findings, but we’re keen to do everything we can because this was absolutely appalling.

“It should never have happened, we don’t want it to happen again.”

It emerged on Saturday that the Metropolitan Police are looking at “potential fraud offences” arising out of the prosecutions during the Horizon IT scandal.