Victims of the Post Office scandal from Greater Manchester have powerfully spoken out to reveal how false charges wrecked their lives.
They spoke defiantly in unison on breakfast television today as the Government faced increasing calls to immediately compensate all those forced to pay back money they didn't steal - and to quash all wrongful convictions.
The postal services minister, Kevin Hollinrake, said the use of emergency legislation to correct the decades-old wrong wasn't being ruled out, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was expected to address the issue at Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament later on Wednesday.
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Some 130 people affected by the Horizon scandal have come forward since a new TV programme dramatising the miscarriage of justice aired. Ministers are under pressure to address the devastating hurt suffered by hundreds of subpostmasters, as public anger over the Horizon IT scandal saw former Post Office boss Paula Vennells hand back her CBE.
The spotlight has also turned on IT giant Fujitsu, after its faulty accounting software Horizon helped lead to the conviction of more than 700 Post Office branch managers and subpostmasters.
One wrongly convicted postmaster said he became a virtual 'recluse' after being shunned by his community following his wrongful conviction when a £12,000 shortfall in his Post Office's accounts was discovered.
Mohammed Rasul, from Salford, told BBC Breakfast that he worked for the Post Office for 27 years. He said: "I was convicted of false accounting and had to wear a tag for three months. I had a suspended sentence for 12 months. I have carried the shame ever since - I refuse to carry it any longer."
Mr Rasul went on to be cleared when his conviction was overturned in 2021, but has said that the electronic tag he had to wear meant he missed seeing his father before he died because he couldn't leave his home due to a curfew.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he said: "I had quite a full social life. People came to my house regularly, on a weekly basis, for various gatherings. And when this happened I had to cancel all these engagements. I was totally recluse.
"Even may parents didn't know about it. Although I knew I hadn't done it, it was just the stigma attached. You had to explain what had happened if anyone asked. I just couldn't explain that something had happened that was totally out of my control.
"My shortfall was £12,000 which I paid out of my savings, what little I had, and borrowed money. If I hadn't paid that money I would have gone to prison."
Former postmaster Scott Darlington ran Alderley Edge Post Office in Cheshire for four years from 2005. "I was suspended in 2009 and convicted in 2010," he said. "I couldn't get a job for three and a half years after that. I couldn't afford to pay for my daughter's school uniform. I suffered awful stigma, embarrassment and financial distress ever since.
"I am glad that things are coming to a head and we are able to speak about it now." Mr Darlington had his name cleared by Court of Appeal judges in 2021. He said: "I knew I hadn't done anything - it has taken all of these years to get to this point now."
The convictions of 93 people have been overturned, with around 700 more going through the process.
Solicitor Neil Hudgell said the extent of the 'victim pool' wasn't yet known and more people were coming forward in the wake of the ITV documentary Mr Bates vs The Post Office. He said people had 'lived in the shadows', but were now 'finding courage' to speak out.
Mr Hudgell said: "We have the convicted, the non-convicted, but there are equally other victims as well that aren't compensated.
"We have got wives that have miscarried children because of stress, we have got relatives that have killed themselves because they have not been able to cope, we've got children spat on in school with behavioural issues. The whole scandal cuts across thousands of thousands of people." He went on to suggest the process of reviewing cases could be taken away from the Post Office.
Postal services minister Mr Hollinrake said an announcement on the Horizon scandal could “possibly” be made on Wednesday.
“Possibly, I can’t speculate on that because there are still some issues we’ve got to resolve,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He said since the ITV programme dramatising the scandal some people had come forward “directly to (him)”.
“The key thing is finding a mechanism so we can rapidly overturn convictions,” he said.
Mr Hollinrake said there has always been a “sense of urgency” over redress for victims of the Horizon scandal but stressed the “complexities” surrounding full and final settlements.
Asked by Times Radio whether a Government announcement was likely to be made on Wednesday about the issue, he said: “There has always been a sense of urgency and it has been my number one priority since being appointed Post Office minister in October 2022, also a big priority for me as a backbencher.” He added: “There are some complexities around (making full and final payments), not least the ones you described because of the 980 postmasters that were convicted. So far 93 have managed to get their convictions overturned.
“So there’s a problem there both in terms of the overturning of convictions when people do come forward, but also lots of people just don’t want to come forward or are not coming forward.”
He said he thought part of this may be down to an understandable “nervousness” and a reluctance to deal with the Post Office again.
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2024-01-10 10:02:00Z
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