Post Office Horizon scandal: Victims' agony over compensation wait

Sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted of theft due to a faulty accounting system have said their pain is being prolonged by their long wait for compensation.

More than 700 branch managers were wrongly accused of false accounting by the Post Office due to faulty software.

One victim, Janet Skinner, from Hull, who is still waiting for compensation over the scandal, said: "We don't know how long it's going to take."

The Post Office apologised and said paying compensation was its "priority".

Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses based on "flawed" information from a computer system called Horizon.

Described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history, dozens of convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 2021, subsequently paving the way for others to be overturned.

Among those exonerated was Ms Skinner, who was jailed in 2007 for nine months over an alleged shortfall of £59,000 from her Post Office branch in Bransholme, Hull.

She said the stress of the case had meant she ended up in hospital for four months after she became paralysed and had to learn to walk again.

However, she said she was still waiting to be fully compensated.

"It's just like a story that's got no ending," she said.

Ms Skinner added that watching the independent public inquiry which started earlier this year into the scandal had reduced her to tears.

Meanwhile, Lee Castleton, who was prosecuted when more than £20,000 had apparently gone missing from his Post Office branch on Bridlington's seafront, said he was still waiting for recompense.

Mr Castleton was forced to declare himself bankrupt after the wrongful accusation meant he was ordered to pay back more than £300,000 to the Post Office, including the organisation's legal bill.

He said he was yet to receive any compensation, adding: "These things are coming to light and you think why?"

Another victim of the scandal, Gary Brown, from East Yorkshire, said he was left suffering from a long-term illness and depression after he was wrongly accused of stealing thousands of pounds from the Post Office he ran.

Mr Brown said he while had received interim compensation, he wanted someone to be held accountable for what had happened to him and others.

"I want people to be jailed. That sounds hard, but I do want them to be jailed and the people who were responsible for covering it up," he said.

A Post Office spokesperson said: "We are sincerely sorry for the impact of the Horizon scandal on the lives of victims and their families."

A total of 77 of the 83 victims who had their convictions overturned had "received an interim compensation payment of £100,000", the spokesperson said.

"Our priority is to ensure there is meaningful compensation for victims and that such events can never happen again," they added.

"We have fully settled the two overturned historical convictions and expect more to be settled shortly."

A public inquiry into the Horizon scandal, which started earlier this year led by retired High Court judge Sir Wyn Williams, heard the accounting system was "fatally flawed".

The government said the inquiry into the scandal would "get to the bottom of what went wrong".

As part of that inquiry, a one-day hearing on issues relating to compensation is due to be heard on 8 December.

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