Report from inquiry into Britain’s Post Office scandal highlights cases of suicides, bankruptcies

Martin Griffiths spent years trying to fend off allegations from Britain’s Post Office that he’d lost nearly $200,000 while running a small postal branch with his wife in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool.

When the Post Office finally terminated his postmaster contract in 2013, and he faced the possibility of being charged with fraud, Mr. Griffiths stepped out into the street in front of a moving bus. He was 59 years old.

The shortfall was later determined to be the result of a flaw in the Post Office’s accounting software.

Mr. Griffiths’s story was one of 17 cases highlighted in a scathing report released Tuesday into Britain’s long-running Post Office scandal, which has been described as the worst miscarriage of justice in British history.

The report is the first from a public inquiry set up by the government in 2021 and headed by retired judge Wyn Williams. It focused on the hardships faced by postmasters at the hands of Post Office management.

Britain’s Post Office is a Crown corporation that runs thousands of outlets across the country offering postal, financial and government services. It is separate from the delivery service, Royal Mail, which was privatized in 2013.

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“The picture which has emerged is profoundly disturbing,” Mr. Williams said Tuesday as he released the findings.

He concluded that between 1999 and 2015 the Post Office went after hundreds of postmasters for financial shortfalls that were actually caused by a glitch in the corporation’s accounting software, called Horizon. Even after Post Office officials had been told the software was faulty, they continued to pursue criminal charges and financial penalties against postmasters.

The Post Office “trenchantly resisted the contention that on occasions Horizon produced false data,” the report said.

Mr. Williams said it is likely that 1,000 people were prosecuted and convicted on the basis of the false data and that “thousands more lost their jobs.” Between 50 and 60 people were prosecuted but not convicted.

He also estimated that 13 suicides can be linked to the trauma caused by the scandal and that at least 59 others have contemplated suicide.

The inquiry heard testimony from more than 200 former postmasters and family members. And the report is filled with stories of those who spent months in jail after being wrongfully convicted and then faced bankruptcy when the Post Office continued to demand repayment.

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“The mental stress was so great for me that I had a mental breakdown and turned to alcohol as I sunk further into depression. I attempted suicide on several occasions and was admitted to a mental-health institution twice,” one former postmaster told the inquiry.

Millie Castleton, the daughter of former postmaster Lee Castleton, who was ordered to pay the Post Office £309,807.94, told the inquiry about the damage the ordeal caused her family. “That nagging voice in my head still says ugly things sometimes. It still tells me that my past and my family’s struggle will define me, that it will be a branding on my skin forever. Broken, thief or liar,” she said.

Susan Hazzleton, a former postmaster in the village of Little Waltham, said her post office was a local fixture she had run since 1995. In 2001, the Post Office alleged she had stolen £6,012, and officials pursued 17 counts of theft against her.

Ms. Hazzleton said friends told her she was “the talk of the village” and that her children were taunted at school: “Your mum’s been stealing” and “It’s your mum’s fault we don’t have a Post Office.” The case against her was eventually dropped, but Ms. Hazzleton said she lost her business and faced financial ruin.

The government has set up a series of compensation schemes and moved to quash many of the convictions. But Mr. Williams said the process has been cumbersome and the Post Office often adopted an “unnecessarily adversarial attitude.” Thousands of cases have yet to be resolved, he added.

“I can say, however, with a degree of confidence that there are currently about 10,000 eligible claimants in the schemes providing financial redress and that number is likely to rise at least by hundreds, if not more, over the coming months,” he said.

He issued a series of recommendations that urged the government to simplify the compensation system and cover the cost of legal advice for the victims.

Business Minister Gareth Thomas told the House of Commons on Tuesday that the government would respond to the recommendations promptly.

In a statement, the Post Office apologized “unreservedly for the suffering” officials caused postmasters and their families. “Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history,” the statement added.

Mr. Williams is expected to file a second report into the scandal next year. It will focus on the technical issues surrounding the software system and the Post Office’s handling of the legal proceedings.

Several former postmasters welcomed Tuesday’s report, and many hoped it would make a difference. “We’ve been waiting decades now. And we really just want to get to the point where we can put this behind us and move on with our lives,” former postmaster Kathy McAlerney told the BBC.