Horizon victim Lee Castleton sues Post Office and Fujitsu for £4m

Emma SimpsonBusiness correspondentBBCActor Will Mellor (left) portrayed former sub-postmaster Lee Castleton in a TV drama concerning the Publish Workplace scandalFormer sub-postmaster Lee Castleton is suing the Publish Workplace and Fujitsu for greater than £4m in damages over the Horizon IT scandal, courtroom paperwork reveal.Mr Castleton is among the most high-profile of a whole bunch of sub-postmasters who had been wrongly convicted after defective software program mentioned cash was lacking from their department accounts.He grew to become the primary particular person to take authorized motion towards each organisations and that is the primary time full particulars of a posh compensation declare have been made public.The Publish Workplace mentioned it couldn’t touch upon ongoing authorized proceedings however was “partaking totally” within the course of.Mr Castleton was portrayed by actor Will Mellor within the hit ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Publish Workplace. The previous sub-postmaster was awarded an OBE for providers to justice in recognition of his tireless campaigning.Talking to the BBC about his £4.487m declare he mentioned: “I need it to be made public. That is what they did to me and my household.”It isn’t concerning the cash. What issues to me is that I get vindication from the courtroom.”In 2007, Mr Castleton misplaced a two-year authorized battle towards the Publish Workplace after it pursued him to recuperate £25,000 of money it alleged was lacking from his department in Bridlington, East Yorkshire.When his authorized insurance coverage ran out, Mr Castleton represented himself in courtroom and was landed with a invoice of £321,000 in authorized prices which he could not pay and declared chapter.His was the one civil declare the Publish Workplace introduced towards a sub-postmaster.The official inquiry into the scandal heard proof that the Publish Workplace knew Mr Castleton would probably be made bankrupt by the motion however wished to make an instance of him to dissuade others from pursuing claims.Claimed lossesThe courtroom paperwork reveal that in Mr Castleton’s case his quantifiable monetary losses embrace:£940,000 previous misplaced earnings plus curiosity£864,000 future lack of earnings£933,000 previous pension losses£133,000 previous property losses£232,000 previous losses of rental income plus curiosity£109,000 loss from sale of enterprise plus interestHe’s additionally looking for basic damages – these are losses that may’t be measured in kilos and pence. They embrace:£30,000 for psychological misery plus curiosity£30,000 for stigma and injury to fame plus curiosity£45,000 for harassment£50,000 for maliciously inflicting his chapter’Startling'”When your life, in addition to your loved ones’s, has actually been ruined it leads to a considerable declare,” mentioned his solicitor Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton.”The explanation it is so startling is that it is the first time that the forensic particulars of a sub-postmaster’s declare been made public. Like many others, Lee has a really advanced case, and the figures have been calculated by specialists who’re leaders of their discipline,” he mentioned.Mr Castleton has by no means utilized to the related compensation scheme after dropping religion within the equity of the method. He needs a decide to resolve what he’s owed and to have “justice” by way of the courts. His authorized staff allege that the Publish Workplace’s resolution to pursue a civil declare towards him was an “abuse of means of the courtroom.” And that the eventual judgment towards him was obtained by fraud. In addition they all declare the state-run establishment conspired with Fujitsu to pervert the course of justice by “intentionally and dishonestly” withholding proof.This included data of bugs and errors in addition to the difficulty of distant entry – the power of some Fujitsu workers to entry sub-postmasters’ department accounts with out their data. The Japanese owned firm developed the software program and is chargeable for working and sustaining the Horizon IT system.Mr Castleton was one of many 555 sub-postmasters who took half within the landmark courtroom case towards the Publish Workplace and received. Either side agreed to finish the authorized dispute. However Mr Castleton claims the settlement does not apply to his present claims in addition to alleging it was obtained by fraud.Particularly, he argues the Publish Workplace hid the true motive why the previous Fujitsu software program engineer, Gareth Jenkins, wasn’t referred to as as a witness on the trial.Mr Jenkins offered testimony in various prosecutions. However in 2013, the Publish Workplace was warned that he had didn’t disclose data “in plain breach of his obligation as an knowledgeable witness”. The sub-postmasters weren’t informed concerning the considerations as they fought their case.Mr Castleton is looking for each the civil judgement and the chapter order towards him to be put aside on these grounds.A Publish Workplace spokesperson mentioned: “We recognise the devastating influence of the Horizon IT Scandal on former postmasters like Mr Castleton. Publish Workplace right now is dedicated to doing all we will to assist these affected get closure. “We can’t touch upon ongoing authorized proceedings however are partaking totally within the course of.”Fujitsu declined to remark to the BBC.