Attempted suicide, exile abroad and jail: The stories behind the Post Office scandal

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Depression, jail time, shifting nation, and tried suicide. These are simply a few of the tales advised by the victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.

Errors made by Horizon software program, which was made by tech agency Fujitsu and utilized by the Post Office, led to the wrongful conviction of greater than 700 individuals over false accounting and theft between 1999 and 2015.

Speaking to The Independent, a few of these former postmasters shared their “horrific” stories together with tales of tried suicide, bodily abuse and exile abroad. None of them have obtained full compensation.

A renewed give attention to the scandal comes amid a brand new ITV drama, Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which has re-sparked curiosity in the ongoing scandal.

Scotland Yard stated on Friday evening that officers have been “investigating potential fraud offences arising out of these prosecutions”, for instance “monies recovered from subpostmasters as a result of prosecutions or civil actions”.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak additionally advised the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that ministers have been “every which way we can” to assist these embroiled in the scandal, together with the choice of exoneration, and a petition calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to lose her CBE has attracted multiple million signatures.

Several individuals took their very own lives as a result of the stress and 60 of the victims have died earlier than discovering any justice in any respect with accusations tearing individuals’s lives aside, with many dropping their jobs and properties.

One of those individuals was Janet Skinner, who started working for the Post Office in 1994 and quickly labored her means as much as develop into a postmistress in Bransholme, Hull when Horizon was launched.

Having by no means had earlier points along with her work, Ms Skinner quickly seen that her totals by no means balanced as soon as the software program was put in place.

After calling the helpline, she was advised any shortfall could be her duty to “make good” as per her contract however in 2006 her employers got here to do an official money audit and discovered a shortfall of slightly below £60,000.

Ms Skinner, who was 35 at the time, was accused of stealing the cash, had her keys revoked and was suspended.

“This sounds naive but when they came I was actually relieved,” she stated. “I thought they were going to figure out what was happening and find what the problem was.”

But when she was advised she could be tried in Hull crown courtroom in 2007, actuality sunk in.

She took a plea cut price and pleaded responsible to false accounting in the hopes of avoiding jail however she was wrongly sentenced to 9 months in jail.

The 53-year-old advised The Independent: “I remember standing in the dock and the judge saying I was untrustworthy and stealing from pensioners.

“I was a complete and utter mess. Standing there having someone say these things about me when I hadn’t done anything was the worst thing in the world.”

She was then despatched to New Hall jail in Wakefield for six weeks the place she was placed on suicide watch.

After leaving jail, Ms Skinner additionally misplaced her dwelling and was compelled to pay the Post Office compensation of £11,000.

It wasn’t till nearly a decade later that Ms Skinner realised she was not alone and ultimately had her conviction overturned in 2021. However, nearly three years on, she continues to be but to obtain her full and remaining compensation.

Another alleged sufferer, 57-year-old Sathyan Shiju, tried suicide when he misplaced his dwelling and companies after being accused of stealing over £20,000 from his Post Office in Tolworth Broadway, South West London.

Mr Shiju had been a postmaster when a department audit in 2006 confirmed the huge Horizon shortfall. The father – who additionally had one other grocery retailer close by – was interviewed beneath warning by publish investigators and says he was instantly suspended and subsequently dismissed by the Post Office.

“It didn’t sink in until they took away the Post Office and then my nightmare started,” he advised The Independent.

“No one would speak to me, not even my MP. There were some days I received ten instances of abuse. People threw things on me, spat on me and called me a p***.

“My businesses failed and my houses got repossessed. I used to be a really confident guy but this completely ruined me. I didn’t have anyone to talk to and get it off my chest so I tried to commit suicide.”

Mr Shiju additionally defined the impression of the accusations on his daughter: “I only have one daughter and she was the one who opened the door when I was about to [commit suicide].

“My wife and daughter took me back to India to be with my family and my daughter was sitting next to my bed every day and night because she was afraid I was going to do something.”

Eventually, Mr Shiju returned to the UK in 2015, however he says his spouse’s household nonetheless refuse to talk to him and didn’t attend his daughter’s marriage ceremony, as they imagine he’s a thief.

In 2020 he was accepted into the Horizon Shortfall Scheme however says he has solely been provided simply over £12,000 in compensation and his case continues to be ongoing.

When approached by The Independent, the Post Office stated they have been unable to touch upon particular person circumstances.

Across the nation in Newcastle, Christopher Head, a former postmaster, additionally felt compelled to depart the nation after he misplaced his livelihood.

Once topped the youngest subpostmaster in Britain in 2006 at the age of 18, Mr Head’s tenure got here to an abrupt finish when he was accused of theft and fraud by the Post Office in 2015.

After 5 months his case was dropped, however the organisation insisted he nonetheless paid again the £88,098 they believed he had stolen.

“I knew then that it was really serious and it was a lot of money that I couldn’t repay,” he stated. “They interviewed me and when they sat me down and read me all my rights it really hit home.”

Mr Head was left unable to seek out work after the accusation and felt his solely choice was to hunt work abroad.

A civil case was opened towards Mr Head however was placed on maintain after Alan Bates introduced a case towards the Post Office to the High Court. This gave Mr Head hope however was not sufficient to salvage his livelihood.

The 36-year-old returned dwelling in 2019 and he was amongst a whole bunch of sub-postmasters who lastly received a High Court case towards the Post Office in a £58million settlement that yr.

Despite nonetheless struggling to seek out employment, Mr Head says he was solely provided 13% of his declare and believes the Post Office has “no intention of restoring justice”.

Meanwhile, former counter clerk Tracy Felsted is proof that even a few of the earliest circumstances are but to be totally resolved.

Ms Felstead was convicted of stealing greater than £11,000 from the Post Office and jailed for six months when she was simply 19.

She landed her job at Camberwell Green Post Office in South London when she left college in 1999 and upon getting back from a household vacation in 2000, she was advised there was a shortfall of £11,500 in her until.

After a gruelling trial at Kingston Crown Court in 2001, she was discovered responsible of theft and false accounting and sentenced to 6 months in jail.

“It was horrendous and I’ve never been so scared in my life,” the now 41-year-old stated. “I tried to commit suicide twice during the trial and my family was destroyed. I remember having to leave a family friend’s wedding because I had to go into a psychiatric unit.

Ms Felstead finally had her conviction overturned in April 2021, but her three-month stay in prison continues to impact her life and she says she is yet to receive full and final compensation.

She said: “The day I got out felt surreal but it was also very isolating. I found it hard to have doors closed and to this day I don’t have a door in my kitchen or living room because I panic.

“I want to now close that door and live my life with my children and just live a happy life.”

In response to those stories, a Post Office spokesperson stated: “We fully share the aims of the current Public Inquiry, set up to establish what went wrong in the past and the accountability for it. We are acutely aware of the human cost of the scandal and are doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past, as far as that is possible.

“Both Post Office and Government are committed to providing full, fair and final compensation for the people affected.

“To date offers of compensation totalling more than £138 million have been made to around 2,700 Postmasters. Interim payments continue to be made in cases which have not yet been resolved.”