the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 21
News
The Post Office has left victims of the
Horizon computer scandal without an
adequate apology and compensation,
the independent inquiry has been told.
Victims of what has been called the
biggest miscarriage of justice in British
legal history accused executives of
offering only “feeble” amends, despite
having ruined the lives of thousands of
people. Hundreds of subpostmasters
and mistresses were wrongly convict-
ed, and others were driven to bankrupt-
cy, homelessness and suicide.
The taxpayer is paying an estimated
£1 billion to compensate the staff who
were falsely accused of stealing money
from their branches because of flaws in
the computer system.
Three in five people who have ap-
plied for compensation are yet to re-
ceive a payment and at least 33 have
died while awaiting justice.
The Post Office pursued 844 prose-
cutions between 2000 and 2015, secur-
ing 705 criminal convictions.
On the second day of the inquiry,
Damian Owen, who ran a branch in
Bangor, north Wales, said the Post
Office went ahead with a private prose-
cution against him despite the police
saying he had no case to answer.
During ten weeks in jail for an alleged
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLEA
pilot aged 16
will attempt to
become the
youngest to fly
solo around
the world after his
19-year-old sister becamethe youngest woman to
do so last month (Kieran
Gair writes).
Mack Rutherford, who
had already become the
youngest pilot in the
world after gaining his
licence aged 15, is aiming
to beat Travis Ludlow,
from Buckinghamshire,
who was 18 years and 149
days when he completed
his 44-day global journey
in July last year.
Mack announced his
plans at Biggin Hillairfield in Kent yesterday.
His parents are both
experienced pilots and he
has been obsessed with
flying since he was three.
He said: “When you get
in the air and you just see
everything so small you
can literally go wherever
you want to go. It’s just
incredible.”
Mack paid tribute to
his sister, Zara, who took
155 days to fly around the
world on a trip hit by
numerous interruptions.“My sister really helped
me see that I can do
something like this. My
parents have been
incredibly supportive.”
He will fly a Shark
ultralight, one of the
fastest microlights, with a
top speed of 186mph.Flyboy aims
to follow his
sister into
record books
Mack Rutherford, 16, with
his sister, Zara, who at 19 is
the youngest woman to fly
around the world solo. He
said that she inspired him
to take up the challengePost Office apology
for ruining lives was
feeble, say victims
shortfall of £25,000 he lost 4st. Owen,
38, said he has since had to work in the
“most menial, bottom-of-the-rung
jobs” because of his criminal record.
Tim Parker, the chairman of the Post
Office, issued an apology and said he
was quitting days before the start of the
inquiry. Owen said: “It is the most
feeble apology I have ever received. It
says, ‘Please feel free to contact me’ but
there are no contact details.” He added:
“I would like a proper apology. I want a
decent amount of money out of them.”
Owen has repeated calls for execu-
tives at the Post Office, a government-
owned company, to face a criminal
investigation.
Lawyers for the inquiry say the Post
Office knew the Horizon computer
system, made by the Japanese firm Fu-
jitsu, was not fit for purpose while press-
ing ahead with prosecutions.
It was installed from 1999 to try to
simplify accounting and stocktaking.
Within days of its introduction a Post
Office helpline was receiving calls com-
plaining about financial anomalies, yet
these were not taken seriously.
A settlement was reached between
the Post Office and 555 workers over its
mistakes in 2019 after a legal battle that
lasted years.
Persecution of subpostmasters
Letters, page 26Mario Ledwith