Post Office shortfalls on ‘Capture’ accounting system led to ‘loving and attentive father’ becoming ‘a ghostly figure’ who never recovered until his death almost three decades later

Family now gathering evidence to seek justice

For Peter’s family, the announcement brought mixed feelings, as whilst the door to redress has been opened, they know they still face difficulties gathering the evidence required.

His widow Agnes, and their children Paul, Simon, Clare and Mark, have instructed Hudgell Solicitors, to gather evidence in support of their cases to help, and say they are determined to see it all the way through. Mark said:

We had mixed feelings on the Government announcement as they have basically said they will help people to overturn convictions and seek compensation, but there was a lot of mentions of the lack of evidence, and they keep saying Capture ‘may have caused’ shortfalls. We just want admissions now that my dad, and many others like him, were as innocent as those impacted by Horizon.

The issue we face is gathering evidence, and that’s why we’ve instructed specialist solicitors.

What happened to my father destroyed him. When my dad was interviewed he submitted all his documentation and evidence to clear his name, ledgers and dockets and spreadsheets, but they were never returned, so there is little evidence available to us to clear his name.

Any evidence like bank statements have been lost overtime, so we need the support of the solicitors to do this. He never could move on though, it always cast a shadow over his life, and our lives as a family.

Now, we’re in a position where we only have our own memories, and we are having to contact many organisations and bodies to see what extra evidence we can uncover.

Peter’s daughter Clare Brennan, says it is hugely important for the family to receive a public apology from the Post Office, and acknowledgement that their father was innocent.

The day my dad was accused robbed him of his potential, whatever and whoever he was supposed to be, and the life he was supposed to have achieved was changed by the Post Office and their actions that day. Acknowledgement and an apology is essential.

Prior to what happened to him, dad was always happy and smiley. He had many interests, lots of friends, was usually singing to the radio and had pride in himself. Then it was all gone, being labelled as dishonest made dad a shell of who he was. There was no trial, no way to clear his name, it was just ‘guilty’ even though we all knew he was innocent.

I want to clear my dad’s name. I want to see an admission of the poor behaviour and mistakes made by the Post Office against him, but more so to clear his name would mean a lot.  I promised to him before he died that I’d do all that I can and to help mum. I think he would want us to use this opportunity to clear his name with all the publicity and interest.

‘Our world was shattered’

Peter’s wife Agnes, who worked as an investigator for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and was also both a magistrate and a school governor at the time he was sacked from his job, says life was never the same after he was accused of fraud and theft at the Kentmere Road branch, in 1994. She said:

That was the beginning of the end.

We’d been happily married for 23 years with four children aged between 10 and 19 and had a busy and happy family life, but our world was shattered when Peter was accused of fraud and theft.

He was taken to Salford and interviewed under caution without representation. I was contacted but not allowed to attend. He was eventually told in March 1995 that he wasn’t going to be prosecuted, but he was still held responsible for the shortfalls and we were made to pay back a considerable sum.

I had to work overtime to pay the mortgage and to pay back what the Post Office alleged we owed them, and that meant we suffered financial hardship as there had to be cut backs.

Peter withdrew into himself as he could not believe what he had been accused of. The false accusations completely destroyed him and he lost all his confidence and he was never able to hold down a proper job from then until his death three years ago. He thought he was a failure and it was heart-breaking.

He would sit looking into space for hours and hours, he couldn’t sleep and was on medication for depression and anxiety from then until the day he died. He seriously considered suicide on one occasion, where a close family friend had to intervene.

The impact of all this on our family was devastating. The children lost their loving and attentive father, who was replaced by a ghostly figure who was existing in something of a cloud.

He lost his loving, caring, happy personality, and although relatives and friends were mainly supportive, some clearly treated us differently as they obviously thought there was no smoke without fire.

Peter had a strong Christian faith and he was a regular churchgoer but following the incident he doubted his belief and it took some considerable time before his faith returned.

Although the travesty of the Post Office came to light in the couple of years before his death, he never received an apology nor received a personal acknowledgement of the situation. Right to the end he always doubted his own ability, and that is so sad. All he wanted was to clear his and the family’s name.

Expert legal support to gather supporting evidence

The family are now being supported by the expert legal team at Hudgell Solicitors which has already supported hundreds of victims of the Horizon scandal.

Solicitor Neil Hudgell says the firm is already advising a ‘significant number’ of families affected by Capture, including both people directly impacted as they were sub-postmasters themselves, but also, due to the length of time which has since passed, many relatives of people who have since died.

Hudgells are now working with the Government to ensure the smoothest path is available to overturn convictions through the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).

The firm currently has 21 cases being considered by the CCRC for referral to the Court of Appeal.

Hudgells are also supporting many families like the Lloyd-Holt’s to gather evidence ready to submit to a new redress scheme for Capture victims who were sacked or made to pay back alleged branch shortfalls when it launches this year. Mr Hudgell said:

Sadly, the story of what happened to Peter is one we have heard time and again as the full story of injustice and suffering at the hands of the Post Office has been gradually exposed over the past few years.

Peter wasn’t prosecuted, but his life and that of his family was devastated by what happened to them at the hands of the Post Office.

The Capture victims are people who have had to wait the longest for any form of exoneration and redress.

There are potentially hundreds affected, but there are likely to be more people no longer with us, and from those that have turned to us already, we have found that the evidence is harder to come by.

The Government has publicly stated that it accepts and understands that, due to the length of time which has passed since the Capture system was in use, 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 team is highly-experienced in gathering information dating back decades, and we will support people through the process of applying for redress once a new scheme is formulated.

The more people who come forward, the stronger picture will be collectively in demonstrating the impact of a faulty system on so many innocent people.

That goes for former sub-postmasters, but also relatives who know their loved ones ran branches at that time, and may have experienced issues.

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