The former sub-postmistress who was jailed while pregnant in 2010 calls for accountability as MPs report thousands still await full redress
Highlights
Seema Misra, wrongly jailed while pregnant in 2010 and cleared in 2021, is still awaiting full compensation.
An MPs' report found delays, administrative errors and undervalued offers continuing across several compensation schemes.
MPs are calling on ministers to demand an interim payment from Fujitsu before a final sum is settled.
Former sub-postmistress Seema Misra, who was wrongly jailed while pregnant during the Post Office's Horizon IT scandal, is still waiting for full compensation more than 15 years after her ordeal, the BBC has reported.
Misra, who ran a post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, was jailed in 2010 and cleared in 2021. Accountants and lawyers are still working on her final claim.
"It's taken 21 years of my life, to be honest," she told the BBC. "June 2005, that's when we bought the post office and the very first day we had issues and then the legal battle started in 2008. We never expected these things can happen in a democratic country."
Misra said those affected wanted compensation for all victims but her priority was accountability — she wanted to see those responsible for the wrongful convictions jailed.
"It looks like a land of two laws, currently," she said. "One law for a common person like me and you, and the other for the people in authorities." She also objected to the use of the word "compensation," saying: "It's our own money back we'll be asking for."
MPs demand action
A report by the Business and Trade Committee found delays, administrative errors and undervalued offers continuing across several compensation schemes, with thousands still awaiting full redress, according to the BBC.
The committee's chairperson Liam Byrne told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that ministers needed to be tougher with Fujitsu, saying: "We do think ministers need to be tougher with Fujitsu and actually demand an interim payment now before a final sum is settled."
MPs also heard that the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, which compensates some victims, was "broken," with initial offers rising from hundreds of thousands of pounds to more than £1 m on appeal in some cases.
Jo Hamilton, who ran a post office in South Warnborough, Hampshire, was prosecuted in 2006 and cleared in 2021.
She told the BBC her compensation claim "took three and a half years" and "must have cost more in legal fees than I actually got."
She settled at 80 per cent of her claim due to her husband's ill health but later received the remaining 20 per cent.
Criticising ongoing delays she said: "If a claim is realistic, why don't they just pay it?" Hamilton added she was now advocating for colleagues still waiting. Misra said the Post Office was "carrying on as normal" and nothing had changed.