'They took my life savings', says Post Office scandal's oldest victim
By Maya Bowles, Westminster Producer
A former sub-postmistress believed to be the oldest victim of the Horizon scandal says she's "disgusted" with the delays to compensation.
Betty Brown from Stanley, County Durham told ITV's Good Morning Britain she lost more than £100,000, which amounted to her "life savings".
The 91-year-old and her husband spent tens of thousands of pounds to plug gaps in their accounts which were created by the faulty Horizon software that made it look like money was missing from their Post Office branch.
Her profits turned into into big losses within a few years of using Horizon to automate her accounts after swapping from a paper-based system.
When Horizon was first activated in her branch it showed a deficit of £500 but it soon regularly began showing much bigger shortfalls.
“There were shortfalls every week, shortfalls of £1500 at least and you were told that you had to pay this in immediately and if you didn’t pay it in, you would be sacked.
"So you had no option - it was your mistake and you were the only person making mistakes and I was too old to be in the job, it was time I retired and got out because they wanted new blood in the office, who understood technology and I was far too old for that, so they were going to change everything for me.”
On those held accountable for the trauma caused, Betty revealed: “I would like them to see and go through what I’ve gone through.
"Since the year 2000, it’s 23 years, I would like to see them stripped of all the big bonuses they took, all the large salaries they took, all the fancy £2 million homes they’ve got and give them to sub-postmasters and do something for it.
"I don’t know what they were trying to do to get all that money, what they’ve done with it? They’ve run an organisation into the ground. They’ve done nothing for the Post Office… They’re a disgrace to the country.”
Her criticism comes as the European boss of Fujitsu is appearing at the inquiry into the Post Office scandal.
Fujitsu designed the IT software Horizon, which is at the heart of the scandal.
Fujitsu boss Paul Patterson told the inquiry bugs, errors and defects in the Horizon IT system existed “for a period of nearly two decades” and were known about by “all parties”.
Mr Patterson also described how references to the bugs and errors were "edited out" of witness statements given by Fujitsu employees to the Post Office, which were used to prosecute victims of the scandal.
It is unclear who is responsible for editing the statements, but the Fujitsu boss condemned the practice as "shameful".
Mr Patterson apologised for the company's involvement in the Horizon scandal again on Friday, after apologising for the first time on Tuesday in front of MPs on the Business and Trade Committee.
The Fujitsu boss told MPs on Tuesday his "gut feel" is staff in the company knew of errors in the Horizon system, also admitting that the company gave evidence which was used to send innocent people to prison during the Horizon scandal.
On Thursday Fujitsu said it would pause bids for government contracts while the inquiry investigates the scandal.
Fujitsu has won almost 200 government contracts since the Post Office stopped prosecuting its staff over financial discrepancies caused by the accounting software.
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The Post Office has always denied that remote access to individual branch Horizon systems was possible, but on Tuesday Mr Patterson confirmed there was remote access to the Horizon system.
He said: “The support and the interventions remotely from Fujitsu has been documented and it is clear the Post Office was certainly aware of that remote access, and that was clear for some period of time.”
One of the biggest issues for victims of the scandal has been whether they will recieve proper compensation for what happened to them and the way the software ruined their lives.
Mr Patterson admitted to MPs on Tuesday that the company has a “moral obligation” to contribute to the compensation for sub-postmasters. The Fujitsu boss said that he has spoken to the company’s bosses in Japan and the company expects to have a conversation with the government about how much compensation it should pay. But it will be up to the inquiry into the scandal to decide whether the tech firm was at fault, and the inquiry isn’t due to conclude until 2025.
On Thursday the inquiry heard how a Fujitsu manager called sub-postmaster Lee Castleton a "nasty chap" in an email ahead of a legal battle that left him bankrupt.
Lee Castleton featured prominently in the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, played by actor Will Mellor.
Mr Castleton told ITV's Good Morning Britain "it's just so easy for people to justify their actions being as bad as they are by making out the person recieving the punishment is worse".
What is the Post Office Horizon scandal? The long-running battle for justice accelerated dramatically after the public outcry provoked by the ITV drama Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
More than 10.3 million people have watched the final episode of the series making it one of the highest-rated TV dramas of the decade.
In 1999 the Post Office introduced digital accounting software named Horizon - created by Japanese tech firm Fujitsu - which replaced the paper-based process of the past. But it soon became clear to some sub-postmasters that the software was creating discrepancies in their accounts, making it look like cash was missing. A sub-postmaster is someone not directly employed by the Post Office, who runs a separate retail business which hosts a Post Office facility on their site. The idea is that an in-house Post Office would drive customers to their business. But many didn't - and the Post Office, which has the power to run private prosecutions, sought to have many sub-postmasters convicted of fraud and theft.
Between 1999 and 2015, 736 sub-postmasters were wrongfully convicted but concerns with the faulty Horizon system were raised in court as early as 2003.
By 2012, potential problems with Horizon were so apparent the Post Office launched a review to satisfy politicians who had been complaining on behalf of their aggrieved constituents.
The Post Office however continued prosecuting sub-postmasters until 2015 but the miscarriage of justice was confirmed in 2019 when the High Court ruled that Horizon was to blame.
A number of compensation schemes were introduced by the government and £87 million was eventually paid out through the Horizon Shortfall Scheme to more than 2,500 sub-postmasters who lost money but weren't convicted.
To date, just 93 convictions have been overturned but the government recently announced legislation which will give blanket exonerations to all those wrongfully convicted.
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