Report lays bare suffering from UK Post Office scandal

SBS Australia

4 days ago

It's been talked about as one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice: the prosecution of nearly 1000 people who worked at Post Office branches around Britain between 1999 and 2015, who were wrongly accused and sometimes convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting. The now 92 year old Betty Brown and her late husband were among the victims. Ms Brown has told ITV News she did her best to protect her husband, who was sick with cancer at the time, but they were still forced to sell their business and spend their entire life savings to cover the 50,000 pound shortfall wrongly raised. "Horizon just changed and spoiled everything. I was going to bed at night and I was asleep right in the edge of the bed so that my husband wouldn't hear me crying or feel me crying or anything, and you just had to deal with it yourself." The pursuit of those caught up in the scandal was based on evidence from a defective information technology system called Horizon, made by the Japanese firm Fujitsu, which the Post Office introduced 25 years ago. After false shortfalls were picked up by the software, the Post Office accused branch managers of dishonesty and obliged them to repay the money. Of the nearly 1,000 people prosecuted, all except for 50 to 60 people were convicted, forcing some into bankruptcy, while others went to prison. At least 13 people are thought to have taken their own lives as a result of the situation, while another 59 contemplated suicide. That's one of the findings of the first report from a public inquiry launched in 2021 into the extent of the suffering and damage caused by the scandal - an inquiry chaired by Sir Wyn Williams. "The picture which has emerged and which is described in my report is profoundly disturbing. Many thousands of people have suffered serious financial detriment, and for a sizable proportion, that detriment subsists. Many people have, inevitably suffered emotional turmoil and significant stress in consequence. Many businesses and homes have been lost. Bankruptcies have occurred. Marriage and families have been wrecked." Seema Misra is a former Post Office sub-post master who was convicted and imprisoned. She has told told Sky News the report's findings come as a relief after so many years of upheaval. "It's been a really frightening, angry journey. But it's moving in the right direction now." In 2024, the government introduced legislation to reverse the convictions, and many of the victims have been compensated. However, the inquiry heard from affected employees about significant delays in receiving compensation, and many who had been compensated through the Post Office's redress scheme who said the amount they received was only a portion of what they had lost. Sami Sabet says he lost his job and was put through criminal proceedings as a result of the faulty software. He is among many still fighting for compensation, telling Chanel 4 News financial redress would go a small way to address the damage caused. "The psychological trauma is almost irreversible. You cannot put any figures on it. My health isn't going to come back. My eyesight, my post-traumatic stress disorder is there. I'll have to learn to live with it." Sir Williams says the Post Office's conduct has been unacceptable. "There are still more than 3,000 claims to resolve. And the likelihood is that there are approximately 1,500 complex and standard claims which are either in the process of assessment or waiting for the process to begin." The report has made 19 urgent recommendations, including that the claimants receive free legal advice, and that a program of restorative justice be established to enable individual victims to meet directly with Fujitsu, the Post Office and the government. It also recommends compensation payments be made available for close family members of those affected, and acknowledges around 10,000 people are eligible for redress. The Post Office's chairman, Nigel Railton, has pledged to ensure that all victims are compensated. He's told Sky News he is sorry for the harm caused. "I mean, look, some of the human impacts.. make apologies not sufficient. The harm that the post office has caused to people over decades is just completely unacceptable, and it's horrific, is the only way to describe it. So I am genuinely really, really sorry, but that's not enough." Fujitsu has also issued a statement saying they are sorry for their part in the scandal, that they are considering the recommendations, and are engaging with the government on contributing to compensation. They - post office and government - have until October to formally respond to the report's findings. The inquiry is expected to issue a further report in due course that will address who was at fault for overseeing the scandal. For Mr Sabet, the inquiry - and an ongoing police investigation into the scandal - offer hope those responsible will be brought to justice. "I would very much like to see the people who are responsible for this go through the same as we went through and be punished just as we were punished, but we were punished wrongly, but they will be punished correctly."