A former Post Office counter clerk who was wrongfully convicted of 27 counts of theft has said her “life was ruined” and it made her want to “take her own life”.
Lisa Brennan from Liverpool told her story for the first time today on the second day of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry.
Ms Brennan became a counter clerk in 1984 in Liverpool. She told the Inquiry:
I loved my work, I loved my job. I had a good life, a house, a husband and a daughter. I was also receiving awards and bonuses for my work.
But when an audit was carried out at her branch in 2002, shortly after a new computer system was installed, she was told there were shortfalls in her till.
My life got turned upside down that day, there was a shortage of about £3,000 and I was interviewed. I didn’t understand then, but it was the beginning of the end of my life.
Ms Brennan was one of more than 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses prosecuted by the Post Office based on information from its faulty Horizon system between 2000 and 2014. A High Court ruling in 2019 found the system contained “bugs, errors and defects”, causing a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts had been caused by the system.
Ms Brennan says she never went home after she was sacked on that day:
I felt ashamed, it was a horrendous day, it was like the end of the world to me.
At Liverpool Crown Court in 2003 she denied the charges but was found guilty by a jury of 27 counts of theft and was given a suspended six-month prison sentence.
I was going to take my own life, I felt so ashamed, my life was ruined, and I had a six-year-old daughter. No one reached out, I just had a criminal record. That’s all I’ve known for 20 years, and I never took anything.
Her marriage ended, and she was left homeless and without a job and relied on help from the Salvation Army. She said she even went hungry so her daughter could eat. Her conviction was overturned last year and she told the Inquiry, “I’ve been so sad and angry for years and I know now that I’ve turned a corner. This is the first time I’ve ever spoken about it. But it’s time.
People still need to come forward. It was terrifying going up against Post Office again, but don’t be frightened, do it. Everyone will help you and it’s lovely to know you’re not on your own, so please talk to someone.
Arrange a call-back
‘I want them to go to jail for what they’ve done. I want someone to be accountable
Ms Brennan was the first of four former Post Office workers to appear before the Inquiry on day two, all supported by Hudgell Solicitors to successfully appeal against their convictions and have them quashed at the Court of Appeal last year.
Lorraine Margery Williams, from Anglesey in north Wales, ran a village post office in 2009 and “loved being part of the community” but was left “humiliated” and thought “no-one would ever employ her again” after she was wrongly accused of being responsible for a £14,000 shortfall.
In 2010 the Horizon IT system was installed and not long after money began to go missing.
I experienced shortfalls once a month or so and called the helpline, but they weren’t helpful.
They took the keys off me and suspended me. I told them it can’t be me; it must be the computer system. They searched my car, followed me home and searched the house,” she told The Inquiry.
At her trial, she pleaded guilty to false accounting rather than theft.
I didn’t want to go to jail, I didn’t want to leave my daughter. I thought I might go to prison and I packed a bag and had a locket of my daughter’s hair and a picture of her in my pocket.
Mrs Williams received a suspended 52-week jail sentence. She said:
I had to pay back £14,000. My husband had to take all hours and do overtime. I lost another job due to the criminal conviction, it was horrendous. I honestly thought no one would ever employ me again.
I want them to go to jail for what they’ve done; I want them to feel the way I felt and the way we suffered financially. I want someone to be accountable.
‘I felt destroyed. I want a decent apology and I want convictions’
Damien Owen was running a Post Office branch in Bangor when auditors arrived in 2010 and told him there was a shortfall of almost £25,000. It was two weeks after an updated Horizon system had been installed.
He denied the charges but was found guilty of theft at his trial and sentenced to eight months in jail.
I felt destroyed by that. I want a decent apology and I want there to be convictions.
‘I felt broken. I was placed in handcuffs and led out’
Mother of three children, Janine Powell became a sub-postmistress in 2005 in her local community and also experienced discrepancies in accounts, reporting them to the helpline and to her area manager.
Auditors arrived in 2007 and told her there was a shortfall of £71,000,
I was shocked to hear it. I felt numb and was absolutely devastated.
At her trial, she refused to plead guilty to a lesser charge for a more lenient sentence and was found guilty of theft and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
I felt broken. I was placed in handcuffs and led out. It was hard, knowing I had to leave my children.
Her conviction was overturned in November last year and she told the inquiry it provided “so much relief,” adding “we can all move forward.”
Despite the Post Office admitting there were 736 convictions of Sub-Postmasters in which Horizon was ‘intrinsic’ to prosecutions – and therefore unsafe – still less than 100 people have had their convictions quashed.
If you were affected by the Post Office Horizon Scandal and are yet to secure justice, call our team today or email [email protected]
Read more: Post Office Horizon Legal Representation
