Massive relief as postmistress is cleared after ‘ten years of hell’
INNOCENT MUM FINED £15K AND GIVEN CRIMINAL RECORD
A KIRKLEES postmistress who was wrongly convicted of false accounting because of the Post Office’s defective Horizon IT system has finally had her name cleared.
Hundreds of subpostmasters’ lives were “irreparably ruined”, as they lost their jobs, homes and marriages after they were prosecuted by the Post Office – which knew the Fujitsu-developed IT system had “faults and bugs from the earliest days of its operation”, the Court of Appeal heard.
Alison Hall, from Hightown near Cleckheaton, was one of 39 subpostmasters to have their convictions overturned yesterday at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Lord Justice Holroyde overturned her false accounting conviction and declared that her prosecution by the Post Office was an “affront to the public conscience”.
“Post Office Limited’s failures of investigation and disclosure were so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the ‘Horizon cases’ an affront to the conscience of the court,” he said.
Alison said the news was a “massive relief ”.
“It’s the best words you could ever hear: conviction quashed,” the 52-year-old beamed. “It’s a massive relief after years of waiting for this day. There’s a pub around the corner and we’re going to get some champagne.”
Alison still remembers the day she took over Hightown Post Office: February 16 2005.
After many years working in schools, the she had moved into a completely new profession “to make a better future” for her two children in the Kirklees village. The first few years were a dream.
“Business were booming,” she said. “It became a really big business, it was doing really well.”
Then problems began to crop up. The Post Office’s Horizon IT system kept correcting transactions for scratch cards.
“We were just told to read the instruction book. I thought I was doing it correctly,” Alison said.
“It just added up and added up. I was trying to figure out what were going on. The helpline didn’t seem to be bothered.
“It was getting very stressful. I was getting really upset about it. I didn’t tell my husband.”
In September 2010, Alison had an appointment with a Post Office official about Horizon and decided to open up about the issues she was having.
Hightown Post Office was closed and an investigation began.
“I was relieved when they came. I thought ‘They’re going to find out what’s going on,’” said Alison.
“It just didn’t work like that.” Alison was suspended and called for an interview under caution. Her solicitor was not allowed to speak, she said.
She appealed once, then twice, but both times she was batted away by the Post Office.
On Christmas Eve 2010, she was sacked. “That’s how thoughtful they are,” she said.
Alison was summoned to Batley and Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court, charged with theft and false accounting, and referred to Leeds Crown Court.
By the time her hearing came in June 2011, her barrister had made a deal: plead guilty to false accounting and the theft charge would be dropped.
“I had to stand up in court and admit to false accounting,” Alison said.
Alison was sentenced to 120 hours of community service, made to pay £14,870 plus costs, and given a criminal record – the beginning of what she describes as “ten years of hell”.
Having her name cleared is a victory for Alison – but she still feels she deserves an apology from her former employer.
“I want a one-on-one meeting and an apology,” she said.
“I want them to say that shouldn’t have happened.
“If all this hadn’t have happened I would still be a postmaster. I’ll always remember their faces, I couldn’t believe they had done that.”
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