Owen, Patricia

Patricia Owen pleaded not guilty to five counts of theft but was convicted on 12 June 1998 at Canterbury Crown Court. She received a sentence of six months’ imprisonment suspended for two years.  

Mrs Owen died in April 2003 and an application to the CCRC was made on her behalf by her family in January 2024. 

Mrs Owen was a Sub-Post Office Manager at Broad Oak Post Office near Canterbury. Accounts at this branch were produced using Capture, a software programme introduced in June 1992 and designed and supplied by Post Office Counters Ltd (POCL) to replace the manual cash accounts in smaller Post Offices.  

A standard check of Mrs Owen’s accounts in November 1995 showed an overclaim relating to pension and allowance payments. 

A special audit in September 1996 led to the seizure of Mrs Owen’s computer equipment. The Post Office alleged that Mrs Owen had manipulated the accounts produced by the Capture software system to inflate payment claims. Mrs Owen adamantly denied any wrongdoing. 

Mrs Owen was prosecuted and convicted. An application for leave to appeal was rejected by the Single Judge. A renewed application to the Full Court was also dismissed. 

Following a thorough review of the case, the CCRC made the decision to refer Mrs Owen’s conviction to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that her prosecution was an abuse of process. 

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2025.