My husband never saw justice after Post Office’s false accusation of theft
Wife of IT victim believes turmoil contributed to his death
IT was one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history with hundreds of dedicated Post Office workers falsely branded criminals.
Lives were ruined, some were sent to prison while others died before their names were cleared.
It seems inexplicable now that the Post Office accepted the findings of an apparently infallible computer system and suspected hundreds of its subpostmasters lied, cheated and stole.
The shocking story has been retold in the recent ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, sparking a major backlash and new moves to try and exonerate the hundreds of falsely accused and convicted sub-postmasters.
The lives of these selfemployed workers were turned upside down when they were accused of stealing money, false accounting or fraud, when it was caused by the faulty Horizon computer system designed by Fujitsu.
Workers were convicted between 2000 and 2014, with just 39 of those convictions later quashed in 2021, after years of suffering.
Faulty Horizon accounting software was actually to blame for the ‘missing’ money.
Although the names of some sub-postmasters were finally cleared three years ago, it could not undo the damage that had been done.
One of them, Redditch postmaster Julian Wilson, died of
cancer in 2016, his widow Karen insisting the turmoil of the case was partly responsible for his decline.
Mr Wilson paid £125,000 for the Astwood Bank Post Office business in 2001, but the couple were forced to sell it for a fraction of its true value eight years later so they could pay court fees of £33,000.
Some £29,000 of that was cash wrongly said to have been siphoned by Mr Wilson.
“I sold all my jewellery, even my engagement ring,” recalled Karen.
“We car-booted our belongings. My parents helped us, they gave us money. We paid everyone back who helped us.”
She told how “half the village” turned up to court to support her husband, unable to entertain the notion he could be responsible for such a crime.
Her late husband’s name was cleared in 2021.
Mrs Wilson said: “Julian was told by his lawyer he’d go to jail unless he pleaded guilty to false accounting, which he did. Sadly, many people did actually go to prison over this corrupt system.
“The judge said, ‘This is a sad day, the villagers have said what an honest man you are’.”
She added: “I have anger. He was always confident he would clear his name – and now he has. He told me: ‘I don’t care if it takes me 20 years, I will do it’.
“This has taken 12 years. He is not here to see it – and he should be here.”
On Tuesday ex-Post Office boss Paula Vennells finally revealed she would hand back her CBE “with immediate effect” following widespread calls.
Vennells was in charge between 2012 and 2019 when the Post Office repeatedly denied there were problems with its IT system. She said she was “truly sorry for the devastation” caused to postal workers and their families.
Meanwhile, the justice secretary is holding crunch talks with judges on expediting the clearing of the names of hundreds of other subpostmasters who were wrongfully convicted.
Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride said the discussions are under way as the government considers ways to overturn the convictions, which could include possible legislation.
Julian was told by his lawyer he’d go to jail unless he pleaded guilty to false accounting, which he did. Karen Wilson