Former postmaster offers advice after compensation

A former sub-postmaster, whose life was "destroyed" in the Horizon computer scandal, has been offered just over half a million pounds in compensation thanks to "proper legal advice"

Bob Stevenson, 81, from Gateshead, was initially offered compensation of £51,000 after losing his family home and business more than 20 years ago. He now stands to receive a settlement of more than £500,000.

Mr Stevenson said all he ever wanted "was to make sure that my family was OK" and urged others affected by the scandal to seek professional help.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you're still involved in it, you've got to go and get proper legal advice."

Lawyers are seeking compensation for hundreds of former sub-postmasters who were caught up in the scandal, maintaining some cases have been "grossly undervalued" by the Post Office.

"The benefit of doubt should be given to people that put forward credible accounts of what they've lost, rather than a forensic examination," said Mr Stevenson's lawyer, Neil Hudgell.

He said almost all the cases his firm had seen had been "worryingly undervalued", with examples of compensation offers being increased from £4,400 to £133,700, or £17,700 to £253,900, after legal representations.

It comes as the government is set to open a new appeals process – managed by the Department for Business and Trade - for people compensated through its Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS), with many sub-postmasters having concluded their cases and accepted settlements with no legal advice.

More than 900 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for stealing because of incorrect information from the Horizon computer system.

Many sub-postmasters went to prison for false accounting and theft, and many were financially ruined.

It has been called the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice.

Mr Stevenson had just refurbished his shop, where both his wife, Carol, and his son worked. Profits were high.

But the installation of the Horizon accounting system in 1999 changed everything.

"We pressed the button - £800 down, the very first week it was installed - and that was happening two or three times a month.

"I used to go home after work and go in the kitchen and cry looking at the bills," he remembers.

"And it's in your contract: you repay the money. So you just kept repaying the money.

"It was really hard. I just knew if we couldn't pay the bills - and just didn't - what was going to happen.

"We lost everything."

In 2002, when Mr Stevenson could no longer plug the financial holes left by the faulty IT system, he was suspended and made bankrupt.

"We were in Sunderland Court for the bankruptcies - and then they just basically tell you you've got to get out," he said, describing losing his home.

"Horrendous is the only word to describe it. You just feel as though you're a failure."

"The retirement plan was to see the world. That was the plan.

"Horizon destroyed our lives."

After details of the scandal, which found the Horizon system had been incorrectly reporting losses in Post Office branches, were made public, Mr Stevenson and his family were offered compensation of £51,000.

After seeking legal advice, they rejected the offer.

They have since been offered more than half a million pounds.

At 81, having acquired a new home, and with the final settlement impending, Mr Stevenson and his family have a chance to pick up where they left off 23 years ago.

"Obviously my son will get it," he says, of the financial settlement.

"That's why you feel such a failure - because you haven't done what I thought was my job, you know, to make sure that my family was OK. That's all I wanted."