A former subpostmaster has told how she finally feels ‘burden free’ and intends to buy the home she has always wanted after receiving £600,000 compensation as part of the new Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme.
The woman, who has asked not to be named, received her letter from the Ministry of Justice in August confirming her conviction from 2003 had been quashed.
And with the help of Hudgell Solicitors, who registered and submitted her application for damages, she received her payment just over a month later.
She is one of the first to seek the firm’s help to assess her situation and register for damages to receive compensation since the new scheme was launched at the end of July.
Solicitor Neil Hudgell says it is a positive indication that many more will soon be receiving the damages they are entitled to.
He confirmed that Hudgells has applied to the Department of Business and Trade (DBT), which runs the scheme, on behalf of over 180 former subpostmasters.
More than 70 of those have had letters from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) confirming the quashing of their convictions under the new Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, which was approved in Parliament in May.
Mr Hudgell said:
We’re delighted to have secured the first payment under this new scheme. The process from beginning to end was completed in just over a month since the overturning of our client’s conviction was confirmed by a letter from the MOJ.
It’s proven to be a relatively straightforward process in cases where people decide that they are happy to take the £600,000 settlement being offered.
Obviously, each case has to be considered individually initially by our team and thereafter instructions are taken from our client. In some cases we have reviewed, the £600,000 offer is one people have been wanting to accept. For many, this has been blighting their lives for decades and they may be elderly or perhaps not in the best of health.
Understandably some are taking the view that it is better to take the offer now and have that money available to them to improve the quality of their lives.
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Cases being individually assessed
Mr Hudgell added that some former subpostmasters who have received letters from the MOJ have opted to have their cases individually assessed, rather than accepting the £600,000.
They will receive an interim payment of £200,000 whilst full paperwork and details of their case are analysed and assessed.
He said:
There are a multitude of reasons for people to choose for their cases to be further reviewed.
This may include suffering significant capital losses due to their conviction, such as losing their business and homes, or situations where those impacted have suffered a significant loss of income. There are many cases where the events have led to bankruptcies.
These type of cases need looking at in finer detail if the client so wishes. We are pleased to say we are seeing the £200,000 payments regularly too in these situations.”
There still remain hundreds of former subpostmasters who still have convictions against their name – but are yet to receive a letter confirming the quashing of their convictions – many of those have also instructed Hudgells to represent them.
Mr Hudgell says the firm is keen to see those letters issued more quickly, and that lawyers are working collaboratively with the Government to see how that can be achieved.
‘Burden finally lifted after 20 years’
The subpostmaster who has been the first supported by the firm to receive the £600,000 payment says she finally feels she can ‘move on from two decades of trauma’.
She was prosecuted in 2003 over an unexplained shortfall of £7,000 in the accounts of her Teesside branch. She was immediately suspended and repaid the shortfall within a week after borrowing from family and friends.
However, she was still convicted of theft in court, and as a result had to sell the shop that she and her husband ran alongside the Post Office, and move out of the area.
She said:
We were in a mess financially and so had to sell our shop well under market value and we moved away to another city and found a small house, where we still live today, and which I have hated for 20 years.
Like all other former subpostmasters, I had no idea why the accounts didn’t balance and I got no help, and so I pleaded guilty and said I’d taken the money. I always thought because I’d said those words I’d never see my name cleared.
Compensation process was ‘done so quickly’
The woman, now in her sixties, had started the process of challenging her conviction through the courts and had instructed Hudgell Solicitors shortly before the scandal became international news, following the ‘Mr Bates v The Post Office TV drama in January, which ultimately led to the new legislation which cleared her.
Now she says she feels like a ‘lifelong burden’ has been lifted, and praised the scheme, and her legal team, for the swift process to secure compensation.
She said:
No matter what you do in life, and no matter how many happy times you have, a conviction against your name always casts a shadow over your life.
It impacted on my mental health and my husband’s, and I struggled to get jobs for years, and even lost some when employers discovered my criminal record.
The letter confirming my conviction had been quashed came in a plain white envelope so I wasn’t expecting it to be it. When I opened it and read it I just jumped for joy. I was crying too, as it was such a burden lifted. I just kept saying ‘I’m free’ and calling everyone I know to say ‘I’m free’.
My solicitor, Leanne Windass, asked if I wanted to have my case further investigated to seek more compensation, but we just wanted to move on and put everything behind us. My parents are old and not in great health so we need to look after them, and we’ve living in a house that I’ve hated for more than 20 years.
We’d been worrying about how we were going to cope in our retirement but this has just taken away those worries. Our children told us to use the money to do what we would have done had this not happened to us. We’d be in a nice house and that’s what we are going to get.
I couldn’t believe how quickly the money was paid into my account. I thought it would be at least a year to go through the process, but it was all done in month, which is brilliant. Leanne and Adam Biglin at Hudgells were so helpful and I am really grateful to them and the firm.
It of course doesn’t change the suffering we have been through for 20 years, but at least it’s something positive now for us. We can now look forward, not back.
