Postmasters affected by Horizon scandal launch new campaign group as fight for justice drags on

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https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scot ... h-34877707

Scottish postmasters for Justice and Redress (SPJR) wants to reach more victims of the scandal that saw hundreds of people wrongly blamed for shortfalls flagged by the faulty Post Office IT system.

Scots postmasters whose lives were torn apart by the Horizon scandal are still fighting for justice despite promises of urgent action.

Now victims have been forced to start their own campaign group seeking support for those still battling to clear their names.

The newly-formed Scottish Postmasters for Justice and Redress (SPJR) is set to launch at the Scottish Parliament next month to try and reach more victims of the scandal that saw hundreds of people wrongly blamed for shortfalls flagged by the faulty IT system.

Rab Thomson, who was accused of embezzling cash from his post office in Cambus, near Alloa, had his conviction overturned two decades on.

But he is still waiting for compensation and has been instrumental in helping form the support network.

The dad, who was sentenced to community service after pleading guilty to avoid jail over a £5,700 mystery shortfall, is calling for other affected postmasters to come forward.

He said: “We want postmasters in Scotland to know you’re not alone.

“At the moment not a lot of postmasters in Scotland are coming forward and we don’t know why. Maybe because many are elderly or because they just don’t have the support. We know there must be so many more out there and we’re here to say, if you need help please get in touch.

“When I was going through my own situation I was so close to throwing the towel in and just accepting what had happened. But the more the Scottish postmasters can fight on this the better for us all and hopefully the further we can get together.

“In Scotland, we are being left behind on overturned convictions and redress. Redress has taken far too long. It feels for many of us like we’re not getting anywhere.


“This is a long process we’re in but hopefully together there will be some light at the end of the tunnel.”

More than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted across the UK, including up to 100 in Scotland, for theft and false accounting between 2000 and 2014 as a result of the flawed accounting system.


The UK government says it has doubled the amount of payments made to former sub-postmasters, with approximately £768 million has been paid to over 5,100 claimants across 4 schemes.

Former Perthshire postmaster Chris Dawson went bankrupt, lost his house, his 14-year marriage and his reputation when he was pursued by the Post Office for missing cash.

He said victims need more than just compensation.

Chris ran the Pitlochry branch from 2007-2010 but was suspended and an investigation opened when a shortfall of £17,500 was found.

He avoided conviction but joined the battle for redress and received an apology from Post Office CEO Nick Read.

But Chris said many still face stigma in their own communities years on.

He said: “Even to this day there will be people kicking around Pitlochry that don’t know that I have been completely exonerated. I think something needs to be done that lets people know, across the country, that none of us were guilty and it was the Post Office along.

“We want other postmasters to know, you weren’t the only one and you’re not alone.”

Also helping launch the group is Marion Fellows, former MP for Motherwell and Wishaw, who led the fight for hundreds of wrongly-convicted sub-postmasters long before TV drama Mr Bates V The Post Office sparked public outrage.

Fellows, who chaired the all-party parliamentary group on Post Offices, believes there are “countless” secret victims of the Post Office’s Horizon scandal in Scotland who “buried” their trauma.