‘Horizon scandal’ themed Annual Lecture raises £7,200

“Justice for Subpostmasters” was the plea from two forensic accountants who delivered Cardiac Rehab’s Annual Lecture about their investigation into the Post Office Horizon IT scandal. This event raised more than £7,200 for the charity.

Herriard-based accountants Barbara Jeremiah and Kay Linnell told the 250-strong audience at Alton Maltings, on 26th November, that they continue to fight for justice on behalf of the Justice for Subpostmasters’ Alliance, a group of 555 sub postmasters whom they have supported through lengthy litigation.

The pair, who helped to inspire ITV’s hit drama Mr Bates v. The Post Office, described how they ‘followed the money’ that had vanished from subpostmasters’ accounts, prompted by the plight of South Warnborough postmistress Jo Hamilton.

Postmasters’ lives, their health and livelihoods, were wrecked. Many went to prison and lost everything, being forced to pay back eye-watering sums of money to the Post Office, money that they had never taken, with the biggest sum thought to be £175,000. Some have since died, or committed suicide, and, at the time of the Annual Lecture, many had not yet received compensation, despite their convictions being quashed and a redress system being in place.

The audience heard both Fujitsu and Post Office had the ability to log on to the ‘live’ Horizon system and make entries, and the Postmaster would never know anything about these corrective entries.

Dr Kay Linnell explained the Police, The Bar Council and the Parliamentary Ombudsman are expected to prosecute those responsible for the injustice and maltreatment of postmasters when the statutory inquiry closes.