More than 100 potential Post Office scandal victims seek legal help

Former sub-postmaster Lee Castleton described how his children were bullied because of the accusations against him

More than 100 new potential victims of the Post Office scandal have contacted lawyers as the PM confirmed plans for a law to overturn convictions.

Neil Hudgell, of Hull-based Hudgell Solicitors, said a flurry of people had come forward since the broadcast of a TV drama highlighting the story.

"They're rising during the day and are difficult, emotional calls," he said.

Meanwhile, Bridlington postmaster Lee Castleton told the BBC the Post Office was "hellbent" on not helping him.

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and mistresses based on the faulty Horizon IT system.

Some people went to prison for false accounting and theft, while many were financially ruined.

More than 700 branch managers were given criminal convictions - only 93 of these convictions have been overturned.

Some Post Office workers had their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2021

While the scandal has been public knowledge for some time with a public inquiry ongoing, an ITV drama - Mr Bates vs The Post Office - which aired last week thrust the issue back into the spotlight.

Mr Hudgell, who has already helped 73 former sub-postmasters clear their names in courts, said the new calls included more people wrongfully prosecuted and convicted.

They also include people forced to pay back alleged shortfalls in branch accounts, those who had lost their livelihoods and a large number of relatives of former sub-postmasters who have since died.

He said: "There is also new information coming in to us on a daily basis which may well be of interest to the inquiry, and we are handing that over to the inquiry team as it does so."

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At Prime Minister's Questions earlier, Rishi Sunak said those affected were victims of "one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our nation's history".

He confirmed a new law would be introduced to exonerate hundreds of branch managers and a new upfront payment of £75,000 would be made to the group of postmasters who took action against the Post Office.

Mr Sunak said: "People who worked hard to serve their communities had their lives and their reputations destroyed through absolutely no fault of their own. The victims must get justice and compensation."

Meanwhile, victims of the scandal spoke to the BBC earlier, including former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses from East Yorkshire.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Castleton, who was made bankrupt after he lost a two-year legal battle with the Post Office, said the fallout from the accusations had made his life hell.

He was forced to declare bankruptcy after Horizon told the Post Office he had racked up tens of thousands of pounds in losses.

'Eating disorder'

Mr Castleton said: "It was devastating. My son was six, my daughter was eight. It was just very difficult.

"They were bullied. They had to move schools, which led to them having to come to a school in the area where obviously everyone knew their father.

"We would get stopped in the street by people saying terrible things, awful things, like that I'd stolen money from old people, saying that I'd stolen pension money."

He said his daughter's teenage years were "particularly difficult" and she suffered anxiety issues and an eating disorder.

"It reaches into the very farthest corners of your life."

Janet Skinner, from Hull, served three months in prison, and said it had affected "everything of my life going forward for the past 16 years".

Actor Will Mellor said producers could not have imagined the response the ITV drama would have

On Tuesday, actor Will Mellor welcomed news that the former Post Office boss Paula Vennells was handing back her CBE after a petition signed by 1.2million people demanded she return the honour.

Mellor, who played Mr Castleton in the TV drama, said there was "no way we could have imagined" the response the drama would have.

"People are angered by it and they want something to be done, and you've seen what's happened now with the petition and it just shows us how strong we are when we come together.

"The people [are] all coming together and saying: 'No, we want justice for these people and people need to be held accountable for what's happened.'

"And I think today is the first step with Paula Vennells handing back her CBE, that's just the first.

"The most important thing, for me, is to try and get justice for these wrongly accused sub-postmasters, whatever that looks like."