Taken away from my children and thrown into jail – for Post Office ‘theft’ that didn’t happen
Inquiry hears more harrowing tales from victims of computer glitch
A MOTHER of three has tearfully recounted being taken away from her children when she was wrongly jailed over £71,000 of ‘missing’ Post Office money.
Janine Powell was one of nearly 700 postmasters convicted of stealing from the till between 2000 and 2015, when the actual culprit was a computer glitch.
Mrs Powell, 50, who ran a branch in Tiverton, Devon, broke down yesterday as she revealed how her family’s ordeal had led her ten-year-old daughter to self-harm and forced her eldest son into council accommodation.
She spent six months in jail out of an 18-month sentence, serving most of her time at Down View, a Category C prison in Surrey where inmates were kept in their cell at least 23 hours a day.
Her children were able to visit only occasionally and, when she was let out on remand with a tag, her curfew meant she could not attend parents’ evenings and school plays.
She suffered suicidal thoughts and eventually moved north to Durham to escape the shame of her conviction.
She said: ‘When I was jailed, I felt broken. She [her daughter] had been selfharming, and it had a big impact on our relationship. We were all very close before, but she blamed me for leaving her.’
Her elder son, 18 at the time, was verbally abused in the street because of his mother’s ‘crimes’ and he self-harmed.
The harrowing testimony came on the second day of the public inquiry into the Post Office IT scandal, which saw more than 3,500 victims falsely accused of taking cash from branches.
In fact dozens of computer glitches in the Horizon IT system were to blame. The inquiry has heard the scandal was ‘the worst miscarriage of justice’ in recent history and that ‘lives were ruined, families were torn apart, made homeless and destitute, and reputations were destroyed’.
The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that 33 postmasters had died before getting justice after years of obfuscation, court battles and compensation delays.
Yesterday four postmasters, who all saw their wrongful convictions for charges including fraud and theft overturned last year, told their stories in public for the first time.
Lorraine Williams, from Llanddaniel, Anglesey, admitted four charges of fraud relating to a £14,600 shortfall. Her daughter was ten years old at the time so she pleaded guilty to avoid a jail-term.
She was handed a suspended prison sentence and told to do 200 hours of unpaid work. She said: ‘I want them [Post Office staff] to go to jail for what they’ve done. I want them to feel the way I felt and the way we suffered financially. Somebody’s got to be accountable for this.’
Damian Owen, who was jailed for eight months for allegedly stealing close to £25,000 between 2009 and 2010, was jailed for eight months following a jury trial. He lost five stone in ten weeks in jail. He said: ‘I felt destroyed. I want decent money, a decent apology and convictions for everyone from the top down who knew, and was still pushing charges.’
More than 50 postmasters are expected to give evidence over the next month in London, Cardiff and Leeds. So far 71 out of 706 convictions have been overturned, with the ‘overwhelming majority’ receiving £100,000 interim compensation while a final settlement is agreed. A separate scheme has handed out offers of compensation to 900 of 2,300 applicants who paid money back to the Post Office but were not convicted of a crime.
A further 557 postmasters, who won a ‘paltry’ sum in 2019 following a High Court case, are fighting on for full compensation.
The scandal is expected to cost the taxpayer close to £1billion.