'I'm so sorry for the fraud' says ex postmaster

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THE postmaster suspended after defrauding his own post office wants the branch out of his shop.

Vipin Patel, who owns and runs Horspath Stores where the post office branch is based, has also said sorry to all those who have supported him after he admitted fraud earlier this year.

In June, following an audit by the Post Office, Mr Patel, 57, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting fraud by abuse of his position.

He was given an 18-week suspended sentence, a two-month curfew, was told to pay £200 costs and was suspended as postmaster.

The amount swindled has never been publicly disclosed.

Mr Patel said: “Some time in the near future the post office will close. My wife and I unreservedly apologise to everyone who will be inconvenienced by this.

“There is an inherent security danger in having a post office on our premises, which also happens to be our residence, which I need to avoid especially as we have nothing to do with the post office.

“There is also a business reason in that is it not worth us having something that pays negligible income.”

The post office currently operates in Mr Patel’s store with a temporary subpostmaster in charge, but will close on September 20.

Despite appealing the decision to suspend him, and a petition with 500 signatures being handed in, asking Post Office Ltd to reinstate him, Mr Patel remained suspended.

The missing money, Mr Patel said, was principally used to help the post office and shop survive short term cash flow problems.

Mr Patel, who had worked in Horspath Post Office for nine years, said: “There was overwhelming support for which my wife and I are eternally grateful.

“Words cannot describe the hurt and sorrow we feel for having made such an error of judgement. I would also like to sincerely and wholeheartedly apologise to Post Office Ltd for breach of contract and of trust placed in me.

“I worked for Post Office Ltd for just under 25 years. I had an unblemished record and this was my first offence.

“Nobody would be more pleased than me if an alternative to provide the service is established in the village.”

A Post Office spokesmansaid: “Customers can be assured that it remains our intention to keep a Post Office service in the area and we are currently investigating the options available.

“Our priority is to maintain Post Office services to the local community and it is therefore important that any future service is sustainable for the person operating the service and for Post Office Ltd.

“There are currently a number of new types of services which are successfully operating nationwide.

“These include Outreach services which are operated by a subpostmaster from a nearby branch, with hours of opening set to reflect the likely number of customers who will use the service, or a Post Office local service, which runs alongside an established local shop,” concluded the spokesperson.

The closest post office to Horspath is in Wood Farm on Atkyns Road, more than a mile away. There are also post offices on Balfour Road in Oxford and Downside Road in Risinghurst.