Post Office scandal report ‘shows full scale of horror unleashed on victims’
A report into the Post Office Horizon scandal “shows the full scale of the horror” unleashed on people just trying to do a day’s work, a former subpostmistress has said.
Jo Hamilton was falsely prosecuted for a shortfall of £36,000 at her Post Office branch in South Warnborough, Hampshire, in 2006.
A first tranche of the public inquiry’s final report into the scandal, published on Tuesday, laid bare the devastating consequences for victims and their families, from police investigations to convictions and imprisonment.
Between 1999 and 2015, approximately 1,000 subpostmasters were prosecuted after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their accounts.
The report said 59 victims of the scandal contemplated suicide with 10 attempting to take their own lives.
Inquiry chairman Sir Wyn Williams said there was a “real possibility” 13 people took their own lives as a result of the suffering they endured during the scandal.
“Horror”
Other details in the report detailed impacts including bankruptcy and relationship breakdowns.
Speaking following the report’s publication, Ms Hamilton said it is “really important”.
She added: “It shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us. You know, we were just decent people trying to do a day’s work for our community.”
Sir Wyn, who said around 10,000 people are eligible to submit compensation claims, urged the Government to establish a public body to devise, administer and deliver compensation to those wronged by authorities.
Ms Hamilton said that was a “necessary” recommendation which she would like to see implemented immediately.
“The Government shouldn’t be anywhere near this because they actually owned the Post Office which perpetrated the crime and they must have been aware what was going on. So I think they should be taken out of it altogether.”
Hopes
Asked about her hopes for the future, she said: “I have a sneaky feeling that this will run right through next year, because that’s the way things are, but I really hope not, because so many people are dying.
“You know, we’ve lost, I think 350 is the number, and 100 of the GLO (Group Litigation Order) group aren’t here any more, and there’s still 138 of them to be paid which is incredible.”
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The Post Office was founded in 1635. This isn’t just an inquiry into a mismanaged postal service, it’s an inquiry into the British state.
And yet, no automatic compensation to the post office managers and their families. What they went through was a huge colossal disgrace on the part of a supposedly great British institution.
It is institutionalised corruption on the part of the UK government. It is abuse of vulnerable and damaged people. Brutal, cruel, nasty and disgusting. What you might expect in Russia but not in a so-called democracy.