A bombshell report by Sir Wyn Williams, found that the impact on Horizon scandal victims had been ‘disastrous’ and Post Office bosses should have known the faulty software could produce errors
A bombshell Post Office Inquiry report has highlighted the harrowing impact the Horizon IT scandal had on victims.
Sir Wyn Williams hit out at bosses at the Post Office, saying they should have known the faulty software could lead to errors. Around 1,000 postmasters were prosecuted and convicted after the IT system made it look like cash was missing from their branches.
This had a “disastrous” impact on those affected – including family members of those wrongly accused. Sir Wyn’s long-awaited report found compensation schemes are “flawed” and people accepted lower offers than they were entitled to because of the Post Office’s “adversorial” attitude.
Tragically he said it is a “real possibility” that 13 victims took their own lives, while the inquiry heard evidence that a further 59 had contemplated doing so. Lead campaigner Jo Hamilton said the Inquiry report “shows the full scale of the horror that they unleashed on us”
Here we look at some of the key things we learned from the report.
READ MORE: Post Office inquiry bombshell as at least THIRTEEN victims took own lives
At least 13 suicides linked to Horizon scandal
The harrowing report says it is a “real possibility” that at least 13 victims took their own lives as a direct result.
It states that the Post Office initially named six former postmasters whose families say took their own life after Horizon showed “an illusory shortfall in branch accounts”. These included Michael Mann and Mr Martin Griffiths, it said.
In March, Sir Wyn wrote, the Post Office specified a further seven victims who had taken their own lives. He wrote: “These persons were not postmasters but the information was known to the Post Office inrelation to six of the deceased persons because of claims made for financial redress and in relation to one of the deceased persons by virtue of reports in the media.”
He went on: “I should stress that whilst I cannot make a definitive finding that there is a causal connection between the deaths of all 13 persons and Horizon, I do not rule it out as a real possibility.”
Dozens thought about taking own lives
Sir Wyn said he had received evidence that at least 59 people contemplated suicide as a result of the Horizon scandal.
He wrote: “This was a common experience across both those who were and were not prosecuted. Ten of the persons who contemplated suicide attempted to take their lives, some on more than one occasion.”
The report also includes harrowing testimony from a postmaster, who wrote: “The impact on me of the treatment the Post Office subjected me to has been immeasurable.
“The mental stress was so great for me that I had a mental breakdown and turned to alcohol as I sunk further into depression. I attempted suicide on several occasions and was admitted to a mental health institution twice.”
More than 10,000 people may be entitled to payouts
Sir Wyn said it is “almost impossible” to accurately say how many people had suffered as a result of Horizon.
But he suggested that around 10,000 people were making claims – a number which is likely to rise further. One of the report’s recommendations was that close relatives should be entitled to compensation.
The document states: “I can say, however, with a degree of confidence that there are currently about 10,000 eligible claimants in the schemes providing financial redress and that number is likely to rise at least by hundreds, if not more, over the coming months.”
Around 1,000 prosecutions using Horizon data
Around 1,000 people were prosecuted and convicted using data from the faulty Horizon system, Sir Wyn estimates.
Thousands more lost their livelihoods and savings, and they and their families became outcasts after they were wrongly accused. The inquiry chairman said he was unable to give an exact number of convictions.
The report said: “Much publicity has surrounded the number of people who were prosecuted and convicted of offences in which data from Horizon played at least a part.
“Nonetheless, on the evidence available to me I find it difficult to be precise about the actual number. However, it seems to me to be likely that approximately 1,000 persons were prosecuted and convicted throughout the United Kingdom during the period with which the Inquiry is concerned based on Horizon evidence.”
‘Adversarial’ attitude drove down sums paid out
Sir Wyn said many victims would have accepted lower payouts than they should because of the “adversial” attitudes they encountered. He said people who made claims using the Horizon Shortfall Scheme did not receive full and fair redress.
He said this must be addressed, and people should receive fair compensations. The report states: “I am persuaded that in the difficult and substantial claims, on too many occasions, the Post Office and its advisors have adopted an unnecessarily adversarial attitude towards making initial offers which have had the effect of depressing the level at which settlements have been achieved.”
Post Office bosses ‘maintained fiction’ Horizon worked
The report said the Post Office “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate”. Sir Wyn said he was satisfied bosses and officials “should have known” the IT system could make errors.
He wrote: “I am satisfied from the evidence that I have heard that a number of senior,and not so senior, employees of the Post Office knew or, at the very least, should have known that Legacy Horizon was capable of error as described above.”
The report said that although postmasters started to complain the software was producing false data almost as soon as it was rolled out, they were ignored. Sir Wyn wrote: “As the years went by the complaints grew louder and more persistent.
“Members of Parliament became involved and provided substantial report to postmasters. Still the Post Office trenchantly resisted the contention that on occassions Horizon produced false data.”
Victims suffered ‘unacceptable behaviour’
Hinting that his final report will give a damning verdict on the Post Office and Fujitsu, Sir Wyn said victims endured “wholly unacceptable” behaviour.
This behaviour occured at institutional as well as individual level, the document states. He wrote: “As later volumes of my Report will demonstrate, all of these people are properly to be regards as victims of wholly unacceptable behaviour perpetrated by a number of individuals employed by and/or associated with the Post Office and Fujitsu from time to time and by the Post Office and Fujitsu as institutions.”
Impact of failing was ‘disastrous’ on victims
The report said that the impact on those who were accused of wrongdoing was “disastrous”.
In a powerful ruling, Sir Wyn wrote that this included the impact on the families of postmasters. He wrote: “The impact upon those wrongly accused and prosecuted for criminal offences has been disastrous.
“The impact upon those held liable for losses which had not actually occurred has also been disastrous in many instances. Some of the close family members of many of these persons have also suffered considerably.”
‘Wholly unfair’ that no legal support available
Sir Wyn said he was appalled that no Government-funded legal support was available for victims. He criticised the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) for resisting this.
His report said: “I regard it as unconscionable and wholly unfair that claimants in HSS are unable to obtainlegal advice, paid for by the Department, about whether they should opt for the Fixed Sum Offer or assessment of their claims.
“Yet the Department continues to resist this as ifits life depended upon it. “
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster