The first convictions based on the Post Office Capture accounting software, which the organisation used before the faulty Horizon system, have been referred to the Court of Appeal.
The case of Patricia Owen, who was found guilty of five counts of theft in June 1998, had been lined up to be referred in July. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) confirmed the referral on Thursday.
Mrs Owen pleaded not guilty to all five charges after the Broad Oak Post Office branch in Sweechgate, Canterbury, was left with a shortfall of £6,000.
The CCRC said it is up to the Court of Appeal whether her convictions are unsafe and should be quashed.
She received a sentence of six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The case is being sent to the Court of Appeal posthumously following an application by Mrs Owen’s family after she died in 2003.
Dame Vera Baird KC, chairwoman of the CCRC, said: “We have more than 30 applications to refer Post Office convictions which pre-date Horizon and most of these cases are under active investigation.
“In some of these very old cases, there is a dearth of paperwork, dates or other information.
“We have exercised our powers under section 17 of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 to require the Post Office to produce all the material they have in each case and they will provide it where it is available.”
