OUR £58M POST OFFICE VICTORY
550 hounded sub-postmasters saved – thanks to Mail’s battle
THE Post Office yesterday capitulated in its battle with sub-postmasters it had branded crooks and agreed to pay them nearly £58million compensation.
More than 550 claimants were suing it for ruining their lives by falsely accusing them of stealing from their branches.
Some were jailed, made bankrupt or hounded out of their jobs as fraudsters because glitches in a new computer system had caused shortfalls in their accounts.
In an out-of-court settlement, the Post Office announced it would pay £57,750,000 to the former village postmasters and apologised.
The Post Office still denies its Horizon IT system could be faulty and the next court judgment in the long-running case will be handed down on Monday.
The settlement is a victory for the Daily Mail, which has repeatedly highlighted the scandal and campaigned to save village post offices.
Last night vindicated former postmasters spoke of their relief at having their names cleared – and their anger over their ordeal.
Seema Misra, 44, of Knaphill, Surrey, who was jailed as a thief when she was eight weeks pregnant, said: ‘I’m so happy that my name has been cleared.’
But she lambasted the Post Office for taking so long to cave in. ‘It’s been miserable,’ she added.
Pamela Stubbs, 71, of Barkham, Berkshire, who was suspended for ‘losing’ £27,000, said she was thrilled with the settlement but furious the Post Office is not admitting liability for the IT fault.
She added: ‘It’s absolutely scandalous. How can you go to bed and sleep at night and then come to court and lie about it?’
The Post Office has blown an estimated £32million of taxpayers’ cash fighting a series of linked High Court trials, which started in November last year and were potentially due to last until 2021.
But yesterday, after two weeks of mediation with its former postmasters, it finally threw in the towel, apologising and even thanking them ‘for holding us to account’.
At least 34 former postmasters with convictions have lodged cases with the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which examines possible miscarriages of justice.
The commission said it was considering any impact yesterday’s developments might have on cases under review. Just over half of the
settlement cash will be swallowed by the costs of the case – an estimated £15million in legal fees and a further £15million ‘success fee’ to City financiers who funded the claimants.
That would leave £27million for the 552 postmasters – an average of £50,000 each for their losses and years of anguish.
The boss who presided over the decision to fight them in court, Paula Vennells, was made a CBe in this year’s New Year Honours. She earned £3.7million in pay and bonuses in her six years as chief executive before quitting in February for a new job in the NHS.
Her replacement Nick read ‘led this drive to a mediated resolution’, the Post office said, adding it was committed to ‘applying the lessons learnt’.