'We lost everything in Post Office scandal'

Amanda and Norman Barber used £200,000 of their money to plug the gaps

A couple say they lost everything after both being convicted in the Post Office Horizon scandal despite using £200,000 of their own money trying to plug gaps.

Amanda and Norman Barber, from Warrington, lost their business and home and are living in a caravan after their wrongful convictions in 2012.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government would bring in a new law to "swiftly exonerate" victims.

"It's good news, but obviously it's a bit late," said Mrs Barber.

"It should have happened years ago, it shouldn't bring a TV programme to bring it to people's minds."

Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses, based on faulty information from Horizon, a piece of accounting software that indicated money had gone missing.

Many maintained their innocence and said they had repeatedly raised issues with the Post Office. Some went to prison for false accounting and theft, while others have been financially ruined, took their own lives or died before their names were cleared.

Lasting impact

"It ruined our lives," Mrs Barber said. "We lost the house, we lost the business, we lost family. They stop talking to us when this happened.

"We lost everything. Now we live in a caravan. We couldn't get a mortgage. Luckily, we didn't go bankrupt because my daughter lent us some money."

After 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle to have their cases reconsidered. To date, only 93 people have had their convictions quashed.

A public inquiry is ongoing but Mr Bates vs The Post Office - an ITV drama broadcast earlier this month - thrust the issue back into the spotlight.

The ITV drama tells the story of Alan Bates' fight for justice

Mrs Barber was a sub-postmistress in Warrington while her husband worked at Manchester Airport, but occasionally worked part-time at the branch.

She said one morning, she had an unexpected visit from two auditors.

"They asked us, 'Did we know if there was any shortages?' which we did, because we kept phoning the helplines, telling them we were short over the previous two years," she said.

"Before they even counted the cash, they got my area manager to ring me and they suspended me.

"I wasn't allowed in the office, they took the keys before they even went into the office."

The Post Office prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses after faulty software made it look like money was missing

Over the previous two years, the couple used £200,000 of their money to plug the shortfall.

They pleaded guilty after being told they were the "only ones that this had happened to".

"It was only seeing the Panorama documentary on telly about four years ago that we realised there were other people [affected]," Mrs Barber added.

While their convictions were overturned in 2021, the couple are still picking up the pieces.

"It's still affecting us," Mr Barber said. "We've stuck together through it all.

"We had community service. We had never broken the law in our lives and we were stuck on a bus to pick up litter up and down the main road. It's devastating."

More on the Post Office scandal

• Follow live: Latest updates

• Why were hundreds of Post Office workers prosecuted?

• How Post Office drama shone light on scandal

• 'Racism affected our treatment in Horizon scandal'

• The village where Post Office scandal battle began

Mrs Barber said the couple were now taking each day as it comes following the latest government announcements.

"It's brought it all back to life again. But we are just living day by day and we want to get back to how we were living 15 years ago, in a house and back to normal life."

A Post Office spokesperson previously said: "We share fully the aims of the public inquiry to get to the truth of what went wrong in the past and establish accountability.

"It's for the inquiry to reach its own independent conclusions after consideration of all the evidence on the issues that it is examining.

"We are doing all we can to put right the wrongs of the past."

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, X and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]