‘Lives were ruined’, Post Office inquiry hears

A former postmaster broke down in tears as he recounted how he faced financial ruin and battled suicidal thoughts after Post Office’s IT system Horizon, which later found as flawed, showed errors in his account.

Baljit Singh Sethi, who ran two branches near Romford in Essex with his wife Anjana, was the first witness to give evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, which started its Human Impact Hearings on Monday (February 14).

After Horizon was introduced, one branch had no problems at all, but the second one showed money was going missing, to the tune of £17,000. They were never charged, but asked to cover out of their own pocket.

“I knew there was something wrong with the system but no one wanted to know that,” he said, adding that he tried to communicate with the head office after noticing the problem with the system.

“We didn't take a single penny from the Post Office our entire life.”

The 69-year-old was overcome by emotion on several occasions as he described his long career spanning two decades.

“I was so down and out, at one stage I was thinking of contemplating suicide. But then I thought no, this is the easy way out. What about my family, my children,” he said.

Opening the hearings, Barrister Jason Beer QC, the counsel to the inquiry, said the scandal, which he described as “the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British legal history” has ruined lives.

“Lives were ruined, families torn apart, families were made homeless or destitute, reputations were destroyed,” he said.

Beer also noted that some former sub-postmasters had passed away before it started.

“It is about people whose mental and physical health has been impacted, people whose marriages and partnerships have deteriorated or failed, about people who have thought about taking their own lives and in some cases took their own lives,” he said.

The scandal saw the Post Office prosecute more than 700 sub-postmasters for alleged false accounting and theft, after its IT system reported shortfalls between 2000 and 2014.

The inquiry, which is being chaired by Welsh judge Sir Wyn Williams and expected to run for the rest of this year, will look into various aspects of the scandal.

They include when the Post Office knew about the IT flaws, how staff were made to take the blame and whether its governance and whistleblowing structures need reform.

In 2019, the High Court ruled that Horizon was affected by bugs and defects, and courts have gone on to quash 72 convictions.

Around 40 witnesses are scheduled to give oral evidence to the public inquiry in the next two weeks. Evidence will be heard from witnesses in Leeds and Cardiff over the coming weeks.

“I am extremely grateful to those who have accepted my invitation to give oral evidence,” Sir Wyn said.

“I recognise that the task of giving evidence in a public forum about personal experiences will not be easy. Without such evidence, however, my ability to reach clear and considered conclusions about the nature and scale of the suffering endured by many over a substantial number of years would be seriously impaired.”

Josephine Hamilton, known as Jo, who ran a post office in South Warnborough in Hampshire, had her conviction for false accounting quashed in 2021. She told the inquiry she had been falsely told she was the only person experiencing problems with the Horizon IT system, which showed a deficit in her accounts.

“I borrowed money, I remortgaged and I put more money in to try and level it up. And in the end, I just ran out of money,” she said.

Hamilton, who is 64, outlined the ongoing impact on her health, her family life and her finances. “I’ve almost become obsessed by fighting for justice. And I can’t sleep nights,” she said. “Literally it goes round and around in my head. I’m so frustrated.”