At least 13 suicides due to British Post Office scandal
NOS News•Tuesday, 17:23
At least 13 suicides due to British Post Office scandal
Share this article
In the controversial Post Office scandal in the United Kingdom, at least thirteen people took their own lives. At least 59 people considered that. Around 1,000 employees have been prosecuted, all but a few dozen of them have been convicted. Thousands were suspended and, in many cases, fired.
This is evident from a new report prepared by a committee of inquiry led by former judge Wyn Williams. The affair, which in its impact is reminiscent of the Dutch benefits scandal, took place between 1999 and 2015. The countless employees who were prosecuted were accused of embezzlement or forgery.
Wrong, as it turned out, because in reality, there was a computer system that did not function. The management of the Post Office, a state-owned company, and software manufacturer Fujitsu “knew about it, or at least should have known about it,” the committee writes.
The computer program was purchased at the turn of the century to automatically track the turnover of post offices across the country. When large amounts of money appeared to be missing, the leadership accused post office holders of embezzlement and forced them to repay money they had therefore not stolen.
UK correspondent Fleur Launspach:
“Thousands of post office branch managers faced unexplained cash shortages that came out of their accounting system. They were all told: you are the only one with this accounting problem, they had to solve it themselves.
They were wrongly accused of theft and fraud, even though it was the accounting system that made mistakes. Many lost their savings, their jobs, their honor. More than 200 ended up in prison. Some of them committed suicide.
Research shows that the Post Office knew that the system was wrong, but still continued to litigate. People preferred to maintain the image of an infallible state-owned company than protect the innocent.
This scandal is a story of injustice to ordinary, hard-working British people who were crushed by a powerful system.”
That took years. The failed software remained in use all along, the total costs for taxpayers amounted to almost 700 million euros. It led to the wrongly accused going bankrupt, losing their homes, drinking or even committing suicide. Many were looked down on by those around them, as well as their family members.
The case only came high on the agenda last year after a dramatized documentary about it was broadcast on ITV. Mr. Bates vs The Post Office was based on the victims' stories and sparked a great public outcry.
Various programmes have been set up to compensate the victims, but in many cases they are difficult to implement. The British government, the Post Office and Fujitsu will now jointly develop a new system to accommodate the victims.
Need help?
Are you thinking about suicide or are you worried about someone? Talking about it helps and can be done anonymously via chat at www.113.nl or by phone at 113 or 0800-0113.
One of those who worked for reparation for the victims, former post office owner Jo Hamilton, said in a statement to the BBC that the report “shows the full extent of the horrors they exposed us to”.
The Post Office is in the dust for this “shameful chapter in our history.” “We apologise unreservedly for the suffering that the Post Office has caused branch owners and their loved ones.”
Podcast
Listen here an episode of The Day podcast about the Post Office scandal.
.avif)