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PACopyright: PA

Former Post Office workers are celebrating today after 39 people had their criminal convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal in London.

And that's where we'll leave our live coverage for now.

You can read the full story here which is being updated throughout the day.

Quote Message: We welcome the landmark decision by the Court of Appeal today to overturn these convictions, which marks another important milestone for postmasters affected by the Horizon dispute. The Post Office has rightly apologised for its historical failings and is taking determined action to right the wrongs of the past, and we continue to monitor this work very closely.” from Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

We welcome the landmark decision by the Court of Appeal today to overturn these convictions, which marks another important milestone for postmasters affected by the Horizon dispute. The Post Office has rightly apologised for its historical failings and is taking determined action to right the wrongs of the past, and we continue to monitor this work very closely.”

The solicitor who represented 29 of the postmasters has said it is "almost impossible to describe the true impact" that the scandal has had on the lives of those who had their reputations and livlihoods "so unfairly destroyed".

Solicitor Neil Hudgell said: "They are honest, hard-working people who served their communities but have had to live with the stigma of being branded criminals for many years, all the while knowing they have been innocent.

"Indeed, given its actions, everything the Post Office has sought to do over the last year or so, whether it be by way of apology and offers of redress, or by talking about a cultural change, completely unravelled when our clients' cases where heard."

He added: "The Post Office failed to offer any sort of explanation as to why wholesale disclosure of evidence was withheld in cases, nor why a proper investigation was not carried out when known problems in the Horizon system started to appear."

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

"This is a huge victory in the fight for justice for the subpostmasters affected by this appalling decades-long scandal, in the face of inaction from government," said Ed Miliband, Labour's Shadow Business Secretary.

"But there are so many other names to clear. For some who lost their homes and their reputations, it's too late.

He said Labour was pushing for a "proper Inquiry with teeth" to get the bottom of how this scandal happened who was responsible.

"The government's inquiry risks being a whitewash," he said.

Helen Pitcher, the chairwoman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which asked the Court of Appeal to review the convictions, said: "This has been a serious miscarriage of justice which has had a devastating impact on these victims and their families."

"Every single one of these convictions has clearly had a profound and life-changing impact for those involved," she said in a statement.

"The Post Office has rightly acknowledged the failures that led to these cases and conceded that the prosecutions were an abuse of process."

"We sincerely hope that lessons will be learned from this to prevent anything similar happening elsewhere in the future."

It is impossible to overstate the impact this judgement is likely to have on the Post Office.

Its chief executive Nick Read has apologised and paid tribute to the sub-postmasters whose convictions have been overturned.

But, the ruling does open the road for dozens of people to seek damages against the Post Office for malicious prosecution.

On top of making good on the historical shortfalls, this could leave the Post Office with a huge bill. One which it could well need financial support from the government to pay.

PA MediaCopyright: PA Media

Earlier on Friday, former sub-postmaster Noel Thomas shared the pain and devastation that his conviction for stealing from the Post Office has caused him and his family - see our report at 9:51am.

He is pictured here after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction. He and his 38 colleagues who also saw their convictions overturned will be feeling fully vindicated today after a long fight.

The Court of Appeal said that the Post Office prevented the postmasters from having a fair trial.

It said the Post Office's failure to investigate or disclose data from the unreliable Horizon IT system prevented those postmasters, of which the court found 39 were wrongly convicted, from challenging those convictions.

"In short, [Post Office] as prosecutor brought serious criminal charges against the subpostmasters on the basis of Horizon data."

"By its failures to discharge its clear duties it prevented them from having a fair trial on the issue of whether that data was reliable."

Lord Justice Holroyde said at the Court of Appeal ruling today that the Post Office "knew there were serious issues about the reliability of Horizon" and had a "clear duty to investigate" the system's defects.

But the Post Office "consistently asserted that Horizon was robust and reliable", and "effectively steamrolled over any subpostmaster who sought to challenge its accuracy".

Prior to today's judgement, the Post Office said: "We sincerely apologise to the postmasters affected by our historical failures.

Throughout this appeals process we have supported the quashing of the overwhelming majority of these convictions and the judgement will be an important milestone in addressing the past.”

Three of the 42 sub-postmasters hoping to have their names cleared today will be disappointed.

The judges decided that the cases brought against Neelam Hussain, Stanley Fell and Wendy Cousins did not depend on data from the flawed Horizon IT system.

Therefore it said their convictions were safe.

Jo HamiltonCopyright: Jo Hamilton

Jo Hamilton is one of those awaiting the decision by the Court of Appeal.

She was accused by the Post Office of taking £36,000 from the village branch she ran in Hampshire.

Ms Hamilton had to give up her shop and found it difficult to get a new job due to her criminal record. Declaring the criminal record also affected everyday life, such as failing to get car insurance.

"I think this is the biggest miscarriage of justice," she told PA.

"I was 45 when this started. It's taken up nearly a third of my life. You think it's never going to end."

"I was given a 12-month supervision order and have a criminal record," she said. "But I did nothing wrong. I told them about the problem but they said I was the only one."