The widower of a former County Durham sub-postmistress who spent years challenging the Post Office over alleged shortfalls in her branch accounts says a written apology – which has come more than 20 years after she was taken to court – will finally allow her to rest in peace.
June Tooby was tormented by continuing and rising unexplained losses at her Mill Street branch in Shildon, County Durham, throughout the late 1990s.
Despite battling declining health, she kept the pressure she was coming under from Post Office bosses to herself, never revealing the true extent to her husband Ken until she was taken to court in 2003.
Mrs Tooby had repeatedly written to the Post Office to express concerns that shortfalls were being caused by the Capture computer system and had kept dozens of boxes of letters to and from the Post Office, as well as a personal diary.
When her case was heard in a civil court, she represented herself but was unable to convince a judge to find in her favour against computer evidence, as the Post Office successfully sued her over an alleged £55,000 shortfall.
However, twenty years later – and three years after she passed away at the age of 71 – those boxes of documents proved vital in not only opening the door to clearing her name but also potentially hundreds of others, too.
Following the widespread media attention around the Horizon scandal last year, more former sub-postmasters came forward to highlight the issues they’d also faced with Capture throughout the 1990s.
It led to an independent investigation being commissioned and carried out last year, at which Mrs Tooby’s evidence played an influential role in findings that there was a ‘reasonable likelihood’ Capture had caused shortfalls in branch accounts, in a similar way to Horizon.
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Post Office apologises 'sincerely and unreservedly'
Mrs Tooby’s widow, Ken, has now received a letter from the Post Office, apologising ‘sincerely and unreservedly’ for its failings, and the impact’ it had on their lives.
In the letter, Simon Recaldin, Remediation Unit Director at the Post Office, writes:
It is clear through the efforts of former postmasters and their families that there were significant failings at Post Office relating to Capture.
We are truly sorry for these failings and their impact on all concerned, including your late wife, June.
We deeply regret that June was not able to receive this apology herself, see these issues recognised alongside the Horizon scandal, denied the opportunity to see the truth uncovered, for justice to prevail and see her good name restored.
Mr Recaldin goes on thank Mr Tooby, for the ‘very significant contribution’ both he, and his late wife, made to the recent investigation through the documents she kept.
He added that the Post Office recognised how it had been ‘very distressing’ for Mr Tooby to have to go through all his wife’s documentation again and ‘relive her struggle against Post Office and her declining health’.
Mr Tooby said:
I feel like June can finally rest in peace now.
This is what we have been fighting for. It has been so difficult going through all of June’s old boxes of files and evidence, but we’ve had to do it to reach this point.
To have a letter from the Post Office admitting that June was not at fault, with a full apology, is better than any financial recompense. This is a huge moment for us as a family.
June’s niece, Vivian added:
We’re so immensely proud of June for who she was, and what she did to fight this injustice.
She was fighting against the Post Office years before anybody else, and because she kept such a detailed account of that fight, in boxes and boxes of letters and discs, there was enough evidence for the investigation last year to reach a conclusion that Capture was faulty, just like Horizon.
Because she fought so hard, we’ve always wanted to see her battle through to a point where not only her name was cleared, but also everybody else affected too.
It is the day we’ve waited for, for so, so long.
June and Ken Tooby celebrating
Solicitors gathering evidence on more than 100 cases
Mrs Tooby’s family are now amongst many being represented by the specialist Post Office claims legal team at Hudgell Solicitors, who are gathering information to make a case for redress through a new compensation scheme, due to be launched later this year.
It will be open to Capture victims who were sacked or made to pay back alleged branch shortfalls.
In many cases, Hudgells is representing relatives of people who, like Mrs Tooby, have since died.
Solicitor Neil Hudgell said:
June Tooby was a fighter for justice and we’re very proud to be working for her family. I’ve told June’s family that she was incredible in what she did.
She may not have been able to win her own fight against the Post Office back in 2003, but as we all now know, she was then fighting against an organisation which was determined to prove the innocent guilty, no matter what the real evidence said.
Although she has since passed, she has won the long-term battle not only on behalf of herself, but also for so many others by documenting what happened to her, and how her concerns, and belief that the issues were with the Capture system, were repeatedly ignored.
It is only right that Mr Tooby has received an unreserved apology for what happened to her, and the Post Office has quite rightly acknowledged the influence of her documentation in helping open the door for many more to seek redress.
Mr Hudgell says the Government has recognised that few, if any victims, will have retained documentation like Mrs Tooby from their days running Post Office branches, but says that shouldn’t prevent anybody coming forward for legal support.
The Government has publicly stated that it accepts and understands that, due to the length of time which has passed, there are likely to be issues over supplying evidence relating to shortfalls, suspensions, terminations, prosecutions, and convictions.
Our message is that people shouldn’t be put off by having a lack of documentation, and if they know or suspect that they, or family members were affected by accounting issues between 1992 and 1999, they should come forward. That includes family members acting on behalf of loved ones who have since passed away.
Our costs will be covered by the Post Office, and our team is highly-experienced in gathering information dating back decades. We will support people through the process of applying for redress once a new scheme is formulated.
Hudgell Solicitors is also supporting former sub-postmasters who were prosecuted and convicted of crimes in relation to Capture accounts by submitting cases to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) for consideration of referral to the Court of Appeal.
More than 20 cases have already been submitted by the Hudgells legal team.
