Post Office inquiry: Ex-postmistress blames people 'not computers'

A former sub-postmistress has spoken to the BBC about the impact of being falsely accused of stealing more than £12,000.

Gail Ward, from Wells in Somerset, saved up and paid all the money in full, but was still taken to court, convicted and sentenced to 150 hours of community service.

Hundreds were wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 after a faulty computer system called Horizon made it look like money was missing from accounts.

But Mrs Ward said it is not a 'Horizon scandal' because it is people who ruined her life, not a computer system.

A spokesperson for the Post Office said they are "doing all we can to right the wrongs of the past" while Fujitsu, which developed the software at the heart of the affair, said it was sorry for its role in sub-postmasters' suffering.

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12 January 2024