Post Office scandal: 'I don't trust anybody anymore'

A former postmistress has told the inquiry into the Post Office scandal that being falsely accused of fraud has had a long-lasting impact on her health.

Speaking on the second day of the inquiry into the wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters and mistresses, Lorraine Williams said both her mental and physical health have suffered.

It was more than 10 years ago when Mrs Williams first discovered a shortfall in the accounts at the post office branch near Llangefni on Anglesey, where she was postmistress.

She tried to make up the missing £14,000 with her own money, but in the end, she was charged with fraud. She lost her job and her home as a result.

"I wouldn't go out. I still don't feel I'm the same person and I do get angry at times," she said. "I don't trust anybody anymore."

A new IT system was to blame for the accounting error, not only at Mrs Williams' post office but at hundreds of branches across the country.

Between 2000 and 2014, more than 700 sub-postmasters were accused of theft, fraud and false accounting.

The inquiry - which is expected to run for the rest of this year - will look at whether the Post Office knew about faults in a newly installed IT system, called Horizon, and will also ask how staff were left to shoulder the blame. The software was developed by Japanese company Fujitsu.

Mrs Williams' daughter was only 10 years old at the time the error came to light, so she decided to plead guilty to avoid a jail-term. She told the inquiry she has suffered a decade of deep shame and humiliation.

Mrs Williams is one of 72 of the wrongly accused who had their convictions quashed in April. Mrs Williams said she had received an interim compensation payment but felt "too scared" to spend it in case the Post Office asked for it back.

The inquiry is being led by the retired High Court judge, Sir Wyn Williams, currently conducting proceedings remotely from his home in south Wales.

Over the next six weeks, the inquiry will hear how it felt for many of the hundreds of former Post Office staff who were falsely accused in the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

This inquiry is already shifting the balance of power in this scandal - by giving victims the floor first.

After decades of being accused, shamed, disbelieved and ignored, their heart-breaking stories are now front and centre.

But more than that, they have also now very publicly been able to point the finger back at their accusers.

"It's the Post Office who need to be in the dock." "Someone needs to go to jail just like I did." "It was a culture and goes all the way to the top." These are the sentences that many of the witnesses are echoing.

Senior members of the Post Office and software owner Fujitsu will be asked to speak to this inquiry in the months ahead, and they will have many questions to answer.

But for the witness I've spoken to, being able to give evidence here - and to have their voices heard by those in authority - has already given them a sense of fairness and empowerment which was denied to them for so long.

The second witness to give his evidence on the second day of the inquiry was Damian Owen, who managed a branch in Bangor.

Reliving his experiences was clearly painful for Mr Owen, who said he had still not been able to tell his 11-year-old daughter what happened. His relationship with his brother had completely broken down some years ago, he added.

Mr Owen's previous connection with the Post Office was strong. His mother had ran branches in Wales since he was a teenager, and he'd worked in the shop and as a paperboy.

Mr Owen was accused of stealing just under £25,000 - just two weeks after the new Horizon system was installed.

The accusation seemed ridiculous to Mr Owen, who said that the branch was quiet.

"There wasn't a massive cash holding. The most we had ever was £13,000," he explained.

He was told by his first legal team there was "no hope" of being found not guilty and was advised to "just take four or five years on the chin".

Mr Owen was sentence to eight months in prison just before Christmas.

"It wasn't good. I was in there 10 weeks and I lost over four stone," he said.

His baby daughter, who is now 11, was less than a year old when he was put behind bars.

But it was the reputational damage that has taken the greatest toll on his well-being. Local newspapers ran damaging accounts of his guilt at the time, and Mr Owen felt he needed to move away.

He's had to take menial jobs despite being well-educated. "Who is going to employ someone with a criminal record?" he asked the inquiry.

Mr Owen, doesn't feel the compensation he has received so far is adequate.

"I want some decent money and a decent apology," he told the inquiry.

Holding up a letter from the Post Office, he said: "It is the most feeble apology I've received for anything in my life."

The Post Office has said it is "sincerely sorry for the impact of the Horizon scandal on the lives of victims and their families and we are in no doubt about the human cost."

"In addressing the past, our first priority is that full, fair and final compensation is provided and we are making good progress," the spokesperson added.