Betty Brown, the 92-year-old oldest surviving victim of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to justice after campaigning against wrongful prosecutions. Brown, who ran the Annfield Plain Post Office in County Durham with her late husband Oswall from 1985, was forced out in 2003 after spending more than £50,000 of their savings to cover non-existent shortfalls identified by the Horizon system.

Brown recently received her long-awaited settlement from one of the government's compensation schemes. She told BBC Breakfast that she accepted the recognition in the New Year Honours list on behalf of all the victims of the scandal, stating, "Every one of them should have an OBE."

The Post Office Horizon IT scandal involved the faulty Horizon accounting software, developed by Fujitsu, which created discrepancies in branch accounts. These errors led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses for theft, fraud, and false accounting. Many were financially ruined, and some were imprisoned, leading to widespread public outrage and calls for justice. The scandal exposed critical flaws in the justice system and highlighted the devastating impact of flawed technology on individuals' lives.

The Horizon system, implemented in 1999, used algorithms to manage transactions and track finances. However, bugs and errors within the software led to inaccurate financial data, which the Post Office used as evidence in court. This raises questions about the reliability of AI-driven systems in critical infrastructure and the potential for algorithmic bias to perpetuate injustice. Algorithmic bias, in this context, refers to the systematic and repeatable errors in a computer system that create unfair outcomes, such as the wrongful accusations faced by the sub-postmasters.

The ongoing inquiry into the Horizon scandal continues to uncover new evidence and hold those responsible accountable. The government has established multiple compensation schemes to provide financial redress to the victims. The scandal has also prompted discussions about the ethical implications of using AI in legal and financial systems, emphasizing the need for transparency, accountability, and robust testing to prevent similar injustices in the future. The latest developments include increased pressure on Fujitsu to provide further compensation and a renewed focus on prosecuting those who knowingly pursued wrongful convictions.