Post Office scandal: Exhausted, angry, heartbroken

Esyllt Carr, Emily Atkinson & Tom EspinerBBC NewsReporting fromThe Oval, LondonPost Workplace scandal victims demand accountabilityVictims of the Submit Workplace scandal have been ready years for justice.Greater than 900 sub-postmasters have been prosecuted after the defective Horizon pc system made it appear to be cash was lacking from their department accounts.Sir Wyn Williams has now printed the primary a part of his report from the official inquiry into the scandal, specializing in the human impression in addition to compensation.A number of former sub-postmasters travelled to the Oval cricket floor in London to see Sir Wyn ship quantity considered one of his report in particular person.We spoke to a few of those that have been there, to listen to about what impression the scandal had on their lives and to get their reactions to Sir Wyn’s findings.’I used to be 19. My life was over earlier than it started’Tracy Felstead was simply 19 when she was sentenced to 6 months in jail in 2002. She was wrongly accused of stealing £11,503 whereas working at Camberwell Inexperienced Submit Workplace in London.She had her conviction quashed on the Courtroom of Attraction in 2021.”Emotional” is how she says she felt on studying Sir Wyn’s report, by which her private story featured.”It would not matter how a lot remedy I am going by means of, how a lot compensation you give me – I will by no means get that again,” she says.”This was my first job and clearly, my life was over earlier than it started.”Even now, sure issues “set off the reminiscence” of what she went by means of and “that trauma comes flooding again”.Tracy, from Telford, Shropshire, continues to be ready for full and last compensation.”My declare is in, however they arrive again with 101 questions that it’s a must to try to reply,” she says.She hopes Sir Wyn’s suggestions can be carried out, however greater than something needs to maneuver on together with her life.”For me, to rise up within the morning and never take into consideration this may be the very best factor ever.’I really feel heartbroken, indignant, and completely happy’Seema Misra’s story is among the most well-known of the scandal. She was jailed in 2010 whereas pregnant after being accused of stealing £74,000 from her Submit Workplace department. She was despatched to jail on the day of her eldest son’s tenth birthday.”I’ve received blended feelings,” she says, reflecting on the publication of the report. “I really feel heartbroken, indignant – and completely happy, too, that it is lastly right here.”There are a number of suggestions within the report on monetary redress, which it described as having been “bedevilled with unjustifiable delays”.Seema says she’s hopeful that compensation payouts will pace up consequently.”After we began the struggle… we did not assume it might take this lengthy, in any respect. Hopefully now the federal government will hear and implement sooner relatively than later,” she says.The Submit Workplace issued an unreserved apology for “a shameful interval in our historical past”, however that does not imply a lot to Seema.”I do not settle for their apologies in any respect. Go behind bars after which I will assume.”‘We’re getting drained. It is exhausting’Kathy McAlerney was a sub-postmistress in a small department within the village of Litcham, in Northern Eire.Like others, unexplained shortfalls started showing in her Horizon account.Following an audit by the Submit Workplace in 2007, she was suspended “on the spot” and pursued for years to pay again the cash again, which, beneath the phrases of her contract, she was liable to cowl.A 12 months later, her contract was terminated. She was eight months pregnant together with her fourth daughter on the time.Her daughter is now 18 years outdated – and Kathy continues to be awaiting compensation.Kathy got here together with her husband Patrick to see Sir Wyn ship his report, which she actually hopes will make a distinction. “We have now been ready so lengthy. We have been ready many years now. And we actually simply need to get to the purpose the place we will put this behind us and transfer on with our lives.”We’re getting drained, you already know. It is exhausting.”Report reveals ‘horror they unleashed on us’Submit Workplace campaigner and former sub-postmistress Jo Hamilton says the federal government is now beneath stress “to get a grip on redress” as a result of Sir Wyn Williams is “on it”.”They’re beneath the cosh,” she says.Relating to compensation, she says it’s “simply mad” that the federal government is “spending tens of millions on legal professionals to drag the claims aside” that they’ve paid for to be introduced.She says Tuesday’s report is large as a result of it lays naked “the total scale of the horror that they unleashed on us”.The investigations into who’s culpable for that struggling can be “attention-grabbing”, she provides.’Stress has shortened my life significantly’Sami Sabet was a profitable businessman earlier than deciding to depart the “rat race” and develop into a sub-postmaster for 3 publish workplaces round Shoreham-by-Sea.When he recognised shortfalls in his department accounts in 2006, he contacted the Horizon helpdesk and spoke to regional managers about his issues, however was nonetheless prosecuted.He ended up pleading responsible to fraud in 2009 to keep away from jail, and obtained a suspended sentence. Even after his conviction was quashed in 2021, he says a few of his neighbours nonetheless see him as a felony.Sami believes stress has “shortened my life significantly”. He has had a coronary heart assault and through open coronary heart surgical procedure misplaced a few of his peripheral imaginative and prescient. He additionally suffered from despair, nervousness and panic assaults, and says his character modified.Sami says that though Sir Wyn’s suggestions for compensation for extra individuals are honest, there’s a hazard that would push compensation for him again even additional.”It has taken so lengthy,” he says.Sami was awarded compensation for intangible damages, such because the unfavorable results on his well being, however continues to be ready for compensation for the lack of his cash and companies.