Post Office Horizon scandal: Hull postmistress praises 'emotional' TV drama

Mr Bates vs the Post Office has sparked renewed debate over the scandal

A former sub-postmistress jailed due to the Post Office Horizon scandal has said she could "relate to everything" in an ITV drama tackling the issue.

More than 700 branch managers were convicted of false accounting, theft and fraud based on faulty software.

ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, starring Toby Jones, has sparked renewed debate over the scandal.

Janet Skinner, from Hull, said the show had helped to shine a light on what she and many others had gone through.

Between 2000 and 2014, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses based on "flawed" information from a computer system called Horizon.

Described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history, dozens of convictions were quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 2021, subsequently paving the way for others to be overturned.

Janet Skinner was jailed in 2007 for nine months over an alleged shortfall of £59,000 from her Post Office branch in Hull

Ms Skinner, 52, was handed a nine-month sentence in 2007 over an alleged shortfall of £59,000 from her Post Office branch in Bransholme, Hull.

She served three months in prison before being released with an electronic tag, but eventually had her conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal in April 2021.

Commenting on the "emotional" ITV drama, she said it depicted "what we have had to actually go through for the past two decades".

"I think people will get more understanding of what it is about," she said.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms Skinner also called for the Post Office to be removed from any future decision making.

"They have too much power over convictions being overturned, or being referred to the courts," she said.

"Even with relation to compensation, they are the ones who are running the show."

Lee Castleton said he hoped the response to the drama would help to bring about change

Lee Castleton, a former sub-postmaster in Bridlington, was made bankrupt by the Post Office after a two-year legal battle.

He said his life had been ruined, but hoped the ITV drama would help bring about change.

"We just need to keep walking forward," he said.

Talking about the impact, he said he and his family had been ostracised by the local community.

"My children were bullied because their father had stolen pensions from little old ladies," he said.

"Even now, I won't go in a Post Office because of the way they treated us."

The Post Office Horizon scandal has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history

Ministers were meeting on Monday to consider ways of clearing the names of hundreds of sub-postmasters.

Tory MP Sir David Davis said there was "no real reason" why they should not be able to submit a mass appeal.

• Post Office scandal: What the Horizon saga is all about

Speaking to the BBC, Sir David, MP for Haltemprice and Howden, said the drama had galvanised the response to the scandal.

At present, all cases are considered individually, but Sir David said: "All of the cases depend on one single lie.

"I see no real reason, no logical reason you can't have a mass case, mass appeal on that basis."

A public inquiry into the scandal is ongoing.

A petition calling for the former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells to lose her CBE over the scandal has received more than one million signatures.

"To be fair, and if she had any decency, she would just hand it back," Ms Skinner added.