Online system incorrectly approved 79 divorces after submissions were sent a day before law allows

Dozens of divorce applications were wrongly approved due to a computer error, the high court has heard.

A hearing in London on Wednesday was told that 79 divorces were incorrectly approved after the applications were submitted a day before the law allows. An online system failed to detect that the submissions came a year after marriage, when the law only permits divorces from a year and a day.