Sub-postmaster sectioned after theft accusations

Balvinder Singh Gill said he was hounded for a decade to repay money

A sub-postmaster who was accused of stealing £108,000 has told how he was sectioned three times after struggling with his mental health.

Balvinder Singh Gill said he felt "really optimistic" when he moved to Oxford from his home town of Coventry, but it became a "nightmare".

The Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses between 1999 and 2015 based on information from the Horizon system, after faulty software wrongly made it look like money was missing.

Mr Gill said there needed to be "proper financial redress" for those affected.

Newly married and starting his business on Oxford's Cowley Road in 2003, he said "from the very start" he though there was something wrong with the Horizon system.

"I had a background in maths and computer science so I thought I was quite savvy with IT," he said.

"Figures were not coming correct from as early as I can remember, but the shortfalls got bigger and bigger over time."

The scandal has received new attention following an ITV drama

Mr Gill said he paid the shortfalls back by "robbing Peter to feed Paul" using money from the retail side of his business to compensate the shortfall from the Post Office.

He assumed the money would come back in the form of an "error notice", which never came.

"Three times I have been sectioned for mental health," he said.

"Most of the decade after it happened I was hounded literally every month for money from them against this debt.

"They had civil proceedings to try and secure the debt against me.

"In the first decade, we were so poor, I was giving them 30% of what I earned, you were never means tested.

"I remember having to take [short-term] Wonga loans, not having petrol to go to work.

"I had a young family, I had a picture of how I thought my life was going to be and I had worked hard to make that happen - maybe in a parallel universe, certainly not this one, it has not been that."

'Staring into despair'

In 2009 his mother Kashmir was found guilty of stealing £57,000 from the same branch, a conviction which was later overturned.

He has said he believes racism affected how his mother was treated.

Since the broadcast of ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new law on Wednesday to "swiftly" exonerate the victims.

Mr Gill said he was "happy to hear" that action would be taken.

Rishi Sunak said a new law will exonerate victims

He said he had received very "nominal" compensation because he became bankrupt, which means the money owed remains part of his original estate.

He said the government should do more to help those who became insolvent through the scandal.

"We have got our hands tied, the insolvency practitioner won't release that," he said.

"I am literally still left staring into despair about what is going to happen."

Mr Gill said there needed to be proper financial redress for those affected.

"This is basically our lives. Had it not happenned, what would our lives have been like?" he asked.

"We were people that worked hard and tried to save our money, and we worked honestly and we really embraced our British values and it is just painful.

"There are people in a worse situation than me, I am still grateful I have a roof over my head.

"It is not a quick fix where you can say 'Here's an arbitrary figure, lets give everybody that'. There are cases which are really complicated."