Subpostmaster who was suspended for shortfalls in accounts caused by the Horizon IT scandal says Post Office executives should be forced to apologise and pay back their bonuses, inquiry hears
- Close to 700 victims were incorrectly accused of crimes such as fraud and theft
- Horizon’s IT glitches ended up in bonuses for execs, campaigners have said
- Sarah Osolinski, 65, and John Bowman, 73, gave evidence at an inquiry today
- Mr Bowman said scandal ruined ‘reputation, financial security and mental health’
A subpostmaster who was suspended for shortfalls in accounts caused by the Horizon IT scandal has said Post Office executives should be forced to apologise and pay back their bonuses, an inquiry has heard.
Close to 700 victims were incorrectly accused of crimes such as fraud and theft between 2000 and 2015 when glitches in the computer system, called Horizon, were to blame.
Former postmasters Sarah Osolinski, 65, and John Bowman, 73, today gave evidence to an inquiry into the failings of the system.
Mrs Osolinski, who ran the Gaer Park Post Office in Newport, South Wales, from October 1996 to June 2010, told the inquiry ‘the whole experience has been a living nightmare’.
She estimates she spent more than £25,000 to cover the constant shortfalls that were triggered by the flawed computer system.
The inquiry session heard paid out between £90 and £1,000 almost every week for two years to make up the shortfalls – all while living under constant fear that the Post Office would close down her branch.
A helpline also made it seems she was the only postmaster who was enduring the issue, too.
John and Christine Bowman pictured outside a post office in Somerset. Mr Bowman gave evidence at an inquiry today
An alleged shortfall of more than £1,872 arose in March 2010, with subsequent audits in June showing up further alleged debts.
She was immediately suspended, before the Post Office contract terminated later that month.
Mrs Osolinski told the inquiry she felt ‘badgered and pummelled’ by Post Office bosses, who accused her of false accounting.
Her losses included £89,000 for the leasehold of the premises, quarterly rent, approximately £7,500 in stock, and she also paid for signage.
She was not paid any notice period and losing the role she had dreamed of doing until retirement also meant her family retail business took a hit.
Mrs Osolinski was forced to walk away from the business and sell her family home to help pay the debts.
She now lives in a housing association bungalow and split up with her husband for a period due to the stress of the IT issue.
Mrs Osolinski was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread pain and extreme tiredness, a year after her husband suffered a heart attack.
Amid the fraud allegations, her symptoms ‘just went into freefall’, but she noted that she had some support from the community.
She told the inquiry: ‘For 12 years we have watched the Post Office and Government prevaricate and thrown money at preventing us from achieving justice. I know many of us has suffered for much longer.
‘No-one at the top of the Post Office has properly apologised or faced prosecution for the lies they have told.
Former post office workers celebrating outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London, after their convictions were overturned by the Court of Appeal.
‘They have all received large bonuses when they moved on, whilst we were left to survive on benefits or low-paid jobs, our characters ruined and confidence crushed.
‘How long can the Post Office hide from the responsibility of paying proper compensation to us all?’
Mr Bowman, who lives in Brynna, Pontyclun, also in South Wales, ran a post office from May 1998 to December 2004.
He said: ‘The Post Office managed to destroy in two years all that I had tried to achieve in the previous 40 years – my reputation, financial security, mental health, wellbeing. They nearly destroyed my marriage and family life.’
Mr Bowman gave up his many activities in the local community as depression took hold during the scandal and he became a ‘bit of a bully’ to his family.
He had always been a financially responsible man, but was left having to take money from his daughter in order to get by.
The former subpostmaster was no longer able to pay for family holidays with his grandchildren, adding that ‘our lives just collapsed’.
He told the hearing: ‘All of this was ripped away from me by a dishonest management team who could not find it within their conscience to admit their mistakes and instead ruined the lives of hundreds of hardworking people such as myself.;
Mr Bowman returned to work earlier than medically advised after being diagnosed with kidney cancer and having surgery because he could not afford to continue paying for a subpostmaster.
He also endured regular small shortfalls but feared a massive loss that he would not be able to pay was waiting around the corner.
Mr Bowman said: ‘I realised not only am I putting in all this money from the shop but I am also declaring to the tax people and the VAT that I am taking this money – and they are charging me VAT and tax on money that I am giving to the Post Office.
‘I didn’t even have that money. It was a ridiculous situation. I think that is what brought on the depression.’
He later sold the post office, his retail business and home because he was not earning enough to make a living and pay the alleged shortfalls in the branch.
The inquiry heard him urge people to explain on oath what went wrong, who instructed them to behave in that way, and why ‘they continued to knowingly pursue innocent people’.
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