Latest news with #sub-postmasters
Telegraph
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Post Office bosses must be held to account for the Horizon scandal
SIR – Senior individuals at the Post Office knew of flaws in the Horizon IT system, yet they let employees go to prison for crimes they did not commit ('Horizon scandal drove 13 people to suicide', report, July 9). These people must not go unpunished. Corporate guilt should not be used as a shelter. Custodial sentences might go some way towards discouraging any repetition of such behaviour in both the public and private sectors. Dr Robert J Leeming Coventry, Warwickshire SIR – Unless those responsible for this appalling scandal are brought to justice, confidence in law and order in our country will be destroyed. Jonathan Fogg Loulé, Algarve, Portugal SIR – What kind of legal system finds hundreds of innocent people guilty? Douglas Jenkinson Nottingham SIR – The public inquiry report published on Tuesday contains damning evidence that the Government and the Post Office are stalling instead of paying compensation to sub-postmasters. Haven't these people been through enough? Or will it take another television drama to deliver what's right? Brett Trafford Bramley, Hampshire SIR – If compensation is not paid soon, some claimants will die before justice is done. Shame on Great Britain. Adrian Lloyd-Edwards Dartmouth, Devon SIR – Fujitsu was responsible for the Horizon software, and the defects that led to erroneous accusations of false accounting. The company should be required to pay a share of the compensation due to the victims. Richard Watts Cholsey, Oxfordshire SIR – After nearly five years, Sir Wyn Williams, chairman of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, has found that the scandal has had a 'disastrous' impact on those wrongly accused and prosecuted for criminal offences. Our statutory inquiry system is a gravy train for the legal community, and a convenient way for politicians to bat difficult issues into the long grass. How much money has been spent on this inquiry? How much have all the solicitors and barristers pocketed? What have any of our politicians achieved? Meanwhile, many people whose lives were ruined are yet to receive proper compensation. Tim Spurry Mansfield, Nottinghamshire SIR – I wonder when Sir Ed Davey will be held to account for his failure to act on the Horizon scandal when he was postal affairs minister. Michael Wilkinson East Sheen, Surrey
BBC News
08-07-2025
- BBC News
Post Office scandal: Exhausted, angry, heartbroken - Postmasters react to report
Victims of the Post Office scandal have been waiting years for than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted after the faulty Horizon computer system made it look like money was missing from their branch Wyn Williams has now published the first part of his report from the official inquiry into the scandal, focusing on the human impact as well as former sub-postmasters travelled to the Oval cricket ground in London to see Sir Wyn deliver volume one of his report in spoke to some of those who were there, to hear about what impact the scandal had on their lives and to get their reactions to Sir Wyn's findings. 'I was 19. My life was over before it began' Tracy Felstead was just 19 when she was sentenced to six months in prison in 2002. She was wrongly accused of stealing £11,503 while working at Camberwell Green Post Office in had her conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal in 2021."Emotional" is how she says she felt on reading Sir Wyn's report, in which her personal story featured."It doesn't matter how much therapy I go through, how much compensation you give me - I'll never get that back," she says."This was my first job and obviously, my life was over before it began."Even now, certain things "trigger the memory" of what she went through and "that trauma comes flooding back".Tracy is still waiting for full and final compensation."My claim is in, but they come back with 101 questions that you have to try and answer," she hopes Sir Wyn's recommendations will be implemented, but more than anything wants to move on with her life."For me to get up in the morning and not think about this would be a big day." 'I feel heartbroken, angry - and happy' Seema Misra's story is one of the most well-known of the scandal. She was jailed in 2010 while pregnant after being accused of stealing £74,000 from her Post Office branch. She was sent to prison on the day of her eldest son's 10th birthday."I've got mixed emotions," she says, reflecting on the publication of the report. "I feel heartbroken, angry - and happy, too, that it's finally here."There are several recommendations in the report on financial redress, which it described as having been "bedevilled with unjustifiable delays".Seema says she's hopeful that compensation payouts will speed up as a result."When we started the fight... we didn't think it would take this long, at all. Hopefully now the government will listen and implement sooner rather than later," she Post Office issued an unreserved apology for "a shameful period in our history", but that doesn't mean much to Seema."I don't accept their apologies at all. Go behind bars and then I'll think." 'We are getting tired. It's exhausting' Kathy McAlerney was a sub-postmistress in a small branch in the village of Litcham, in Northern others, unexplained shortfalls began appearing in her Horizon an audit by the Post Office in 2007, she was suspended "on the spot" and pursued for years to pay back the money back, which, under the terms of her contract, she was liable to cover.A year later, her contract was terminated. She was eight months pregnant with her fourth daughter at the daughter is now 18 years old - and Kathy is still awaiting came with her husband Patrick to see Sir Wyn deliver his report, which she really hopes will make a difference. "We have been waiting so long. We've been waiting decades now. And we really just want to get to the point where we can put this behind us and move on with our lives."We are getting tired, you know. It's exhausting." Report shows 'horror they unleashed on us' Post Office campaigner and former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton says the government is now under pressure "to get a grip on redress" because Sir Wyn Williams is "on it"."They are under the cosh," she it comes to compensation, she says it is "just mad" that the government is "spending millions on lawyers to pull the claims apart" that they have paid for to be says Tuesday's report is huge because it lays bare "the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us".The investigations into who is culpable for that suffering will be "interesting", she adds. 'Stress has shortened my life considerably' Sami Sabet was a successful businessman before deciding to leave the "rat race" and become a sub-postmaster for three post offices around he recognised shortfalls in his branch accounts in 2006, he contacted the Horizon helpdesk and spoke to regional managers about his problems, but was still ended up pleading guilty to fraud in 2009 to avoid prison, and received a suspended sentence. Even after his conviction was quashed in 2021, he says some of his neighbours still see him as a believes stress has "shortened my life considerably". He has had a heart attack and during open heart surgery lost some of his peripheral vision. He also suffered from depression, anxiety and panic attacks, and says his personality says that although Sir Wyn's recommendations for compensation for more people are fair, there is a danger that could push compensation for him back even further."It has taken so long," he was awarded compensation for intangible damages, such as the negative effects on his health, but is still waiting for compensation for the loss of his money and businesses.
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Post Office scandal had 'disastrous' impact on victims, report says
The Post Office Horizon IT scandal had a "disastrous" impact on those wrongly accused and prosecuted for criminal offences, the first report from the official inquiry into the scandal has Wyn Williams' report has revealed the scale of the suffering caused to hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted over shortfalls in their branch accounts, as well as others Wyn said at least 59 people contemplated suicide at various points, of whom 10 attempted to take their own lives, and more than 13 people may have killed themselves due to the Post Office apologised "unreservedly" and said it would carefully consider the report. This first volume of Sir Wyn's report focuses on the human impact of the scandal, as well as issues around had divorced, suffered serious mental health issues and alcohol addiction as a result of their ordeals, the inquiry found."A number of persons said they could not sleep at night without drinking first. One postmistress said she 'went to rehab for eight months as the Post Office had turned her to drink to cope with the losses,'" Sir Wyn wrote. The report makes a series of urgent recommendations, including:free legal advice for claimantscompensation payments for close family members of those affecteda programme of restorative justice with Fujitsu, the Post Office and the government meeting individual victims directlySir Wyn also criticised the "formidable difficulties" around the delivery of financial redress for victims, which is currently organised around four different one scheme, for those who experienced unexplained shortfalls related to Horizon but were not convicted, Sir Wyn says: "I am persuaded that in difficult and substantial claims, on too many occasions, the Post Office and its advisors have adopted an unnecessarily adversarial attitude towards making initial offers."According to the report, 10,000 eligible people are currently claiming redress, and Sir Wyn expects that number to rise by "at least hundreds" over the coming called on the government to publicly define what is meant by "full and fair financial redress" and recommended changes to some of the Sir Wyn will look at how the scandal happened and who was responsible in a later report, in this first part, he said that he was satisfied that some employees of the Post Office and Fujitsu were aware, or should have been aware, that the Horizon software had "bugs, errors and defects" which could affect branch Wyn has asked the government to respond to his findings no later than October 2025. The government said that some members of Horizon victim's families will be eligible for Office minister Gareth Thomas said the scheme would be open "to close family members of existing Horizon claimants who themselves suffered personal injury – including psychological distress – because of their relative's suffering".But he added that the government would need written evidence of that injury made at the time "other than in exceptional circumstances".He said devising such a scheme "raises some very difficult issues"."Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most," he said. A Post Office spokesperson said: "The Inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. "Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations." The report also gave details of the some of the legal costs of the various compensation schemes so published government figures show the total legal costs paid for the "operational delivery of Horizon redress schemes" have risen to £ their work on the Horizon Shortfall Scheme up to 2 December 2024, law firm Herbert Smith Freehills were paid £67m by the Post Office. Post Office campaigner and former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton said it was "just mad" that the government is "spending millions on lawyers to pull the claims apart" that they have paid for to be said the report out on Tuesday was "huge" because it laid bare the scale of the investigations into who is culpable for that suffering will be "interesting", she adds.
Sky News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Post Office scandal inquiry lays bare a second injustice
The long-awaited first report from the Post Office Horizon scandal inquiry lays bare not just the devastating personal toll of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, but also the slow-motion failure of the government and the Post Office to deliver meaningful redress. Sir Wyn Williams's first report documents with stark clarity how hundreds of sub-postmasters, wrongly accused of theft and fraud due to the faulty Horizon IT system, lost their livelihoods, homes, reputations - and in some cases, their lives. Thirteen people are believed to have taken their lives as a result of the scandal. Fifty-nine contemplated it. It talks of alcohol addiction, serious mental illness, and bankruptcy - all tearing families apart and leaving behind a heartbreaking legacy. But if the scandal was a failure of justice, the response to it has become a second injustice. Critical on a technical level The report is critical, on a fairly technical level, about the complexity, delays, and bureaucracy of redress schemes that have left victims still waiting years for full compensation. 3:28 Hundreds of whom have died before seeing "full and fair redress". While Sir Wyn is fair to the government and the Post Office in stating that he believes their commitment to delivering the above has been in "good faith", he concludes this has not been achieved for every victim, describing "formidable" difficulties. There are 19 recommendations - including a push to ensure consistency across all four redress schemes, with an agreed and public definition of "full and fair redress". Compensation Among them, that family members of victims should be compensated, and a permanent public body established to manage future redress schemes in future. Additionally, Fujitsu, the Post Office, and the government should engage in formal restorative justice programmes. There was also a flavour of what is to come in the final report later this year or next. The report has found that both Fujitsu and Post Office staff knew Horizon could produce false data but concealed this, maintaining a false narrative of accuracy. One of the most important things now, though, is how and when the government, Post Office, and Fujitsu respond officially. Sir Wyn has also set a deadline of 10 October 2025 for that.
Telegraph
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Post Office Horizon scandal drove 13 people to suicide
The Post Office Horizon scandal drove 13 people to suicide, an inquiry has found. Sir Wyn Williams, the chairman of the public inquiry, said that 'according to their families' 13 people took their own lives, while a further 59 had contemplated suicide and 10 attempted it. The Post Office scandal saw sub-postmasters across the country wrongfully prosecuted after Fujitsu's faulty Horizon software incorrectly recorded shortfalls on their accounts between 1999 and 2015. In a 162-page report, published on Tuesday, Sir Wyn said 'it seems likely that approximately 1,000' people were prosecuted and convicted during the 16-year period 'based on Horizon evidence'. Sir Wyn said Post Office bosses knew Fujitsu's Horizon software was faulty but had 'maintained the fiction' that a version of it 'was always, always accurate'. He also said 'wholly unacceptable behaviour' had been perpetrated by 'a number of individuals employed by and/or associated with the Post Office and Fujitsu' and the institutions themselves 'from time to time'. Since the inquiry began hearing evidence in February 2022, many witness accounts have suggested that certain senior and junior members of the Post Office had knowledge of bugs, errors and defects in the system. However, Tuesday's report marks a landmark moment, as it is the first time the chairman of the inquiry has said that this was the case. While Sir Wyn cannot determine criminal actions, a criminal investigation is already being conducted in parallel to the inquiry. Last month, the Metropolitan Police said it was investigating more than 45 individuals, with seven formally identified as main suspects. Recommendations put forward by the report included compensating the family members of Horizon victims, Government-funded legal advice and for a restorative justice programme to be set up by the Government, Fujitsu and the Post Office. The Post Office Horizon IT inquiry, which heard from 298 witnesses and examined close to 2.3 million pages of documents, retired in December. Witnesses questioned by inquiry counsels included Paula Vennells, the former Post Office chief executive and ordained Anglican priest, and Sir Alan Bates, the campaigner whose fight for justice was portrayed in an ITV drama last year. Tuesday's report primarily focused on the human impact of the scandal. However, in his introduction Sir Wyn addressed a key question of whether he believed Post Office and Fujitsu bosses had been ignorant of the glitches in the software system at the time of the prosecutions. The inquiry chairman wrote of how, prior to the rollout of the software, some Fujitsu employees had 'discovered' that a version – Legacy Horizon – was capable of producing data that was false, and specifically 'losses or gains' on branch accounts that were 'illusory rather than real'. He wrote: 'Although many of the individuals who gave evidence before me were very reluctant to accept it, I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior and not so senior employees of the Post Office knew or – at the very least should have known – that Legacy Horizon was capable of error as described above. 'Yet, for all practical purposes, throughout the lifetime of Legacy Horizon, the Post Office maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate.' Sir Wyn then included a footnote, which said he would 'summarise and explain the evidence which justifies this statement' in a later part of his report. In 2010, Legacy Horizon was replaced by another version of the software frequently known as Horizon Online. However, the vast majority of prosecutions against sub-postmasters within the impacted period were carried out before 2010. Sir Wyn detailed how this version was also afflicted by 'bugs, errors and defects', which 'had the effect of showing gains and losses in branch and Crown Office accounts'. Addressing knowledge around problems with this version of the software, Sir Wyn wrote: 'I am satisfied that a number of employees of Fujitsu and the Post Office knew that this was so.' In another part of the document, he wrote: 'As later volumes of my report will demonstrate, all of these people [impacted postmasters] are properly regarded to be regarded as victims of wholly unacceptable behaviour perpetrated by a number of individuals employed by and/or associated with the Post Office and Fujitsu from time to time and by the Post Office and Fujitsu as institutions.' In a footnote, he wrote that he had chosen to use the phrase 'wholly unacceptable behaviour' since it was 'apt to describe behaviour which is worthy of condemnation' but did not 'necessarily mean that persons or the Post Office committed crimes'. Inquiry chairmen are, by law, unable to determine criminal or civil liability. A large part of Sir Wyn's report also addressed the four compensation schemes set up to redress victims, for which he identified ' around 10,000 claimants '. However, while more than £1 billion has been paid out so far, many victims are still waiting for their payouts and those with larger claims have repeatedly gone back to demand what they feel they deserve. One recommendation Sir Wyn gave was that the Government and the Post Office should agree on a definition of 'full and fair' compensation, and this should be followed when deciding the level of compensation to offer. Sir Alan has repeatedly turned down his offers, which he says have been a fraction of what he has claimed for. Sir Wyn wrote: 'I am persuaded that in the difficult and substantial claims, on too many occasions, the Post Office and its advisors have adopted an unnecessarily adversarial attitude towards making initial offers which have had the effect of depressing the level at which settlements have been achieved.' A Post Office spokesman said: 'The inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon scandal. 'Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations.'
