Horizon scandal children suffer from bullying and panic attacks

CHILDREN of sub-postmasters caught up in the Horizon IT scandal have said they suffered from bullying, developed eating disorders and had panic attacks as well as being shunned by relatives.

Described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history, some men and women whose parents were accused of stealing from their Post Office branches have disclosed the devastating impact it had on their lives.

It comes as a newly formed group, called Lost Chances for the Children of Sub-postmasters, seeks compensation for young relatives who faced the fallout of their families’ ruined reputations.

The campaign was set up by Katie Downey, whose father Tony said he was left suicidal after he was accused of stealing £35,000 from his branch in Cumbria, said she was 11 when she was “ripped away” from her childhood in the Lake District.

After moving with her family to France, Ms Downey told the BBC she was “severely bullied” at her new school, leaving her unable to communicate, while family life at her new home “wasn’t good”.

“My dad was very unstable, very angry. My mum was very upset, dad was very upset,” she said. “I couldn’t communicate at school, I couldn’t communicate at home, so I just started locking myself in a room, and for two years I wouldn’t speak to anyone.

“I just became mute. I was scared at whether Dad would shout at me, or Mum would cry at me, and as a child I didn’t know how to cope with that.”

Millie Castleton, whose father Lee was among the sub-postmasters portrayed in the acclaimed ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, said she also suffered from bullying after starting secondary school.

She was eight when Mr Castleton, from Bridlington, East Yorks, went bankrupt after losing a two-year legal battle with the Post Office.

Ms Castleton said she grew up with an “inherent distrust” of people and developed an eating disorder which she described as a way for her to “control just one thing in a life where I just had absolutely no control”. Sean Connolly, whose mother Deirdre was accused of stealing more than £15,000 from her Post Office branch in Northern Ireland, said his ambitions to play professional football were curtailed by panic attacks.

Mr Connolly said he played at a semi-professional level for a club in Derry before severe anxiety left him unable to compete on the pitch.

“We don’t know what could have happened,” he said.

Varchas Patel told the BBC he was shunned by his extended family after his father Vipin was wrongfully prosecuted for shortfalls totalling more than £75,000 at his branch in Oxford from 2010 to 2011.

“They shunned Dad as well, but when they couldn’t take it out on Dad, or when they couldn’t insult Dad, or be horrible to Dad, I was their next target.”

Mr Patel said he has earned £60,000 to support his parents with their financial problems and was forced to abandon a university degree because he could not afford it.

“It will always be the Post Office to blame for this, not our parents.

“But it’s equally important for our parents and also the wider public to understand how it has affected the children,” he added.

‘They shunned Dad as well, but when they couldn’t take it out on Dad, I was their next target’