Oldest Post Office scandal victim ‘fobbed off' in compensation battle
Betty Brown, 92, is one of the original sub-postmasters and mistresses who joined Sir Alan Bates to win a High Court case against the Post Office in 2019.
More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongfully prosecuted after glitches in Fujitsu's faulty Horizon system meant that inaccurate shortfalls were recorded on their accounts.
Compensation schemes have been set up to provide financial redress for those affected – some of whom have died without receiving any payout.
Mrs Brown was initially offered less than a third of what she had claimed for through the Government-administered scheme.
However, it is still 60 per cent of the amount she believes she is entitled to.
Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Brown said: 'It absolutely destroyed my whole life.'
She added: 'We're just getting fobbed off. The evidence is all there.'
Mrs Brown said she and her husband were forced out of her branch in County Durham in 2003 after her late husband spent more than £50,000 of their own money to cover shortfalls which did not exist.
The couple's Post Office had previously been the most successful in the region. However, they were forced to sell it at a loss.
More than £892 million has been paid to more than 6,200 claimants across four different schemes, according to government statistics.
Yet earlier this year, the Business and Trade Select Committee called for binding timeframes amid concerns payouts were not reaching victims fast enough.
A public inquiry into the Horizon Post Office scandal finished hearing evidence last year, and a full report is expected to be released before 2026, which could lead to prosecutions of individuals.
Gareth Thomas, the Post Office Minister, said: 'Betty has been a fierce advocate for postmasters up and down the country and I understand the frustration when lawyers are not able to reach agreement on a claim.
'It is always our priority to pay as much redress as we can, and in some cases, we have been able to offer more than has been claimed.
'Earlier this week, I announced that we will take further steps to quickly and fairly resolve challenges to offers by those in Betty's scheme through the introduction of facilitated discussions.
'My department and I will also continue to work with lawyers to improve the quality of expert reports, so postmasters receive redress as quickly as possible.'
A Post Office spokesman said: 'We, like everyone else, want to see Betty receive full and fair redress as quickly as possible which we know is also the objective for the officials at the Department for Business and Trade who are dealing with Betty's GLO claim. Post Office will do anything we can to assist Government with this.'
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