Former Post Office clerk cleared of fraud

Jacqueline Falcon with her daughter, Summer

A Northumberland Post Office worker cleared of fraud says she now hopes to get her life back.

As a parish councillor and Post Office clerk of 15 years, Jacqueline Falcon was seen as a pillar of her community before she was caught up in the Horizon scandal.

She was convicted in 2015 after reversing transactions at Hadston Post Office to cover up a missing £1,000 that she had not stolen.

Her conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, with judges saying Post Office failures meant her initial trial was unfair.

'Money just vanished'

The 42-year-old is the latest victim of the Horizon scandal to be cleared of offences they did not commit.

Ms Falcon had worked for the Post Office since the age of 18 and had given a "lifelong service with no mark against her name", according to her barrister Lynton Orrett.

She was accused of reversing transactions on the faulty accounting software between December 2014 and February 2015.

• The Post Office scandal explained

With no formal training on the system, Ms Falcon tried to cover up a £933.69 shortfall in the branch's accounts which she could not explain and had not stolen, but feared would be deducted from her wages.

Ms Falcon was pregnant when she was handed a three-month suspended prison sentence and ordered to repay the full amount in compensation after pleading guilty to fraud at Newcastle Crown Court in 2015.

Ms Falcon had not followed the coverage of the Horizon scandal as she hated to think about the Post Office

Remembering the hearing where she admitted fraud on the instruction of her barrister, she said: "The judge made me feel really stupid in court, saying if I hadn't stolen anything why was I trying to pay the money back?

"But I hadn't stolen it, the money had just vanished."

The impact of the ordeal was enormous for Ms Falcon and her family.

She became reclusive, her children were bullied and she spent nine years battling depression.

'Shunned'

Ms Falcon was unaware of the Horizon scandal unfolding until she received a letter from the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates miscarriages of justice.

It said she could have a case for appeal.

On Tuesday, Ms Falcon watched via video-link as her conviction was overturned.

The case, dealt with in just 30 minutes, was the 71st Horizon-related conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Lord Justice Holroyd, one of the senior judges who considered her appeal, said Ms Falcon had described the "embarrassment and distress" suffered by her family, including "years of being shunned by the village community".

Ms Falcon said she now hopes to gradually get her "old self" back as she paid tribute to the suffering of other victims.

"Some people lost their home, their business or committed suicide," she said.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which brought the initial case against Ms Falcon, did not oppose her appeal.

The CPS has now indicated that it would not have brought the case had it known about Horizon's major flaws, as it would not have been in the public interest.