How victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal had been denied justice

A hero subpostmaster who repeatedly fought off armed robbers solely to be made bankrupt when he was wrongly accused of stealing £85,000 died earlier than seeing any justice.

Tom Brown, from Stanley, County Durham, received a bravery award for heading off gunmen throughout a string of terrifying raids at Post Offices throughout his 30-year profession.

But his life was ruined when he was charged with theft and was left bankrupt because of the Horizon pc system.

He was a part of the group which launched authorized motion towards the Post Office. 

North Durham Labour MP Kevan Jones stated: ‘Poor Tom died earlier than Christmas. It may be very unhappy. They took him to courtroom however on the morning of the case they deserted it and within the meantime, he had gone bankrupt.’

Mr Brown, who was in his late 70s when he died, was charged with two offences of false accounting after an audit of his Post Office in North Kenton, Newcastle in 2008 concluded £85,000 was lacking.

The father-of-one, who spent a long time working for the Post Office in varied places throughout County Durham and Tyneside, was suspended.

In 2010, after struggling to pay the payments for the store facet of his enterprise for over a yr, Mr Brown was made bankrupt.

He had beforehand been awarded a Certificate of Valour by the Post Office after repeatedly being threatened with shotguns, having a handgun pushed towards his head and a knife held to his throat in a collection of armed raids.

In April 2017, after the case towards him was dropped on the day of trial at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Brown stated: ‘I used to be accused of taking £85,000, however I stated ‘do not be silly, there’s something flawed with the pc’.

‘The software program they [the Post Office] had was not registering all of the transactions, though it was giving individuals receipts.’

Mr Brown, a widower, claimed he misplaced £500,000 general after his remaining belongings had been seized and auctioned off.

Mr Brown stated: ‘I need reimbursing for the cash I’ve misplaced.

‘But crucial factor is for them to confess there was one thing flawed with the computer systems.

‘I simply need an apology.’

A public inquiry into the scandal – essentially the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK authorized historical past – is ongoing.

Mr Brown gave proof on the inquiry himself in February 2022 saying he felt ‘violated’ when his dwelling was looked for the lacking money.

He recalled contacting the Post Office helpline however was repeatedly instructed ‘the transaction would right itself’.

He stated: ‘I knew I had not taken the cash however I had no thought that they had the facility to do that.

‘I wish to discover out who was accountable as soon as and for all and to see somebody take accountability for the wrongdoings of the Post Office.’

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has introduced a brand new legislation to overturn unsound convictions towards subpostmasters following a public outcry in response to the current ITV programme – Mr Bates vs the Post Office – which dramatises their lengthy battle for justice.

Kevan Jones, who raised Mr Brown’s case in Parliament over ten years in the past and is on the Horizon Compensation Advisory Board, stated: ‘Tom ought to have had a comfortable and thriving retirement.

‘He had a bungalow so it ought to have been very nice however he went bankrupt and needed to go and stay together with his son in Stanley.

‘His household can nonetheless declare compensation however it’s laborious as a result of Tom didn’t stay to see his full compensation paid. That is the tragedy of it. He by no means noticed justice.’

Meanwhile a postmistress who was wrongly sacked within the Post Office Horizon scandal has revealed her mom died disillusioned in her for ruining the enterprise.

Sue Beacock confessed she was glad she bought most cancers months after she misplaced her beloved Post Office as prospects thought she left as a result of her well being relatively than for false accounting.

Now aged 60, Mrs Beacock is the most recent Post Office sufferer to talk about the harrowing expertise she suffered because of the scandal.

By now Mrs Beacock ought to have been approaching her retirement because the proprietor of two profitable Post Offices and the proprietor of two flats.

But she was left nearly penniless after dropping all the pieces within the huge miscarriage of justice.

Mrs Beacock purchased Fortuneswell Post Office on Portland, Dorset, in 2002, together with her late mom Kathleen Schofield, an skilled postmistress, so she would have some monetary safety.

The enterprise got here with two flats that the pair lived in.

But like a whole lot of different postmasters throughout the nation, the pair encountered big issues with the Horizon IT software program and located themselves with shortfalls of money virtually each week.

Mrs Beacock stated they might sit there for hours attempting to work out what occurred to the lacking cash which they needed to stability.

She stated: ‘Between them, my mum and my late dad had over 100 years service with the Post Office.

‘But I bear in mind my mum saying ‘this bloody system, it by no means was once like this within the outdated days’ when issues went flawed with the IT system.

‘She would sit there for hours attempting to work out what occurred to the cash.

‘But the place mum was a proud girl she would by no means assume to ring up a helpline and admit there was one thing flawed.

‘So she spent 10 years paying to place it proper. She took out a second mortgage to cowl it.’

Mrs Beacock purchased a second Post Office in close by Easton in 2009.

The store had shut in 2007 with out warning after the previous postmistress resigned following an audit.

Mrs Beacock stated: ‘I did not assume something of it on the time however the identical factor should have occurred to the earlier postmaster.

‘I instantly had issues with the Horizon system. I had all of the transactions but after we counted the money the 2 by no means tallied.

‘It was at all times quick each week by odd quantities like £75 or £100 which I needed to discover to make it stability. It was a weekly battle.

‘I used to withdraw cash from the cashpoint or put cash on a bank card, it went up and up. I maxed out two bank cards at £10,000 every

‘I rang the helpline a couple of occasions and so they had been fairly bloody ineffective. I instructed them I did not know the place it was and all they stated was that it was my duty.

‘They should have been getting related calls left, proper and centre.

‘By September 2011 the cash had run out and immediately I instructed the auditors that there was £5,000 lacking. What I used to be doing at that stage was false accounting, saying I had £5,000 greater than what the enterprise truly had.

‘I used to be instantly suspended and the Post Office was closed down.

‘I used to be gutted as I beloved the job however I understood then that it was my fault, that I had made errors and didn’t do the job proper.’

Mrs Beacock was taken to courtroom by the Post Office in March 2012 when it was dominated that she needed to promote her dwelling at Fortuneswell to pay again the £5,000 in addition to a £26,000 mortgage she took out to start out up the Easton Post Office.

She stated: ‘I suffered from despair and nervousness by means of the disgrace of it.

‘Then in November 2012 I used to be identified with most cancers and not directly I used to be relieved as a result of a minimum of individuals might need thought that’s the reason the Post Office closed due to my well being. In my thoughts it was excuse.’

Mrs Schofield died in 2016 aged 79.

By then she had simply £6,000 left in her account in comparison with £200,000 when she purchased Fortuneswell Post Office in 2002.

Mrs Beacock stated: ‘I needed to make my mum proud however in her eyes I simply did the job flawed and I hadn’t run the enterprise correctly and she or he died disillusioned in me.

‘Had she lived just some extra years she would have recognized the reality.’

Mrs Beacock, a divorced mom of two, has not labored since she misplaced her job and has been on advantages.

Last December she was awarded £117,000 compensation from the Post Office over the wrongdoing.

But consequently she has misplaced her advantages and has needed to pay £18,000 in superior lease for the three mattress home she now lives in as a result of she has a spotty credit score because of the scandal.

She stated: ‘I’m dwelling off the cash nevertheless it will not final. I’m 60 years outdated now and I ought to have been the postmistress of two Post Offices and the proprietor of two flats.

‘The Fortuneswell Post Office closed down years in the past and the constructing has been transformed into seven flats that are most likely price £1m in all.’