Kamal Ghorui
More than 15 years after she was wrongly jailed while pregnant during the UK’s Post Office Horizon IT scandal, Indian-origin former sub-postmistress Seema Misra is still waiting for full compensation, and says the fight has cost her more than two decades of her life.Misra, who ran a post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, was imprisoned in 2010 after being accused of financial discrepancies caused by faults in the Horizon accounting software. Her conviction was quashed in 2021, but the final settlement of her compensation claim is still pending.“It’s taken 21 years of my life, to be honest,” Misra told the BBC, recalling how the ordeal began almost immediately after she and her family bought the post office in June 2005. “The very first day we had issues and then the legal battle started in 2008.”According to the BBC, accountants and lawyers are still working on the final details of her compensation claim.
‘A land of two laws’
While Misra said compensation for all victims remains important, she stressed that accountability for those responsible for wrongful prosecutions matters even more.“It looks like a land of two laws, currently,” she told the BBC. “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 term “compensation”. “It’s our own money back we’ll be asking for,” Misra said.Her case is one of hundreds tied to what has been described as the worst miscarriage of justice in British legal history. Faults in the Horizon accounting system, developed by Japanese IT company Fujitsu, led to thousands of sub-postmasters being wrongly accused of theft or fraud.
MPs flag ‘serious structural failings’
A report by the UK parliament’s Business and Trade Committee has found that the compensation process for victims continues to suffer from “serious structural failings”, including delays, administrative errors and undervalued settlement offers.Committee chair Liam Byrne said justice had come “far too slowly” for many victims who have spent years fighting to clear their names.MPs also heard evidence that some initial compensation offers under the Horizon Shortfall Scheme were dramatically increased on appeal — in some cases rising from hundreds of thousands of pounds to more than £1 million.The report noted that thousands of claimants are still awaiting full redress despite ongoing government efforts.
Victims speak out about delays
Another former postmistress, Jo Hamilton, who ran a branch in South Warnborough, Hampshire, told the BBC that her own compensation process took more than three years and involved heavy legal costs.“It must have cost more in legal fees than I actually got,” she said.Hamilton initially accepted 80% of her claim due to her husband’s ill health before later receiving the remaining amount. She has since begun advocating for other victims still waiting for settlements.“If a claim is realistic, why don’t they just pay it?” she said, criticising continued delays.
Fujitsu yet to pay compensation
The parliamentary report also highlighted that Fujitsu has not yet contributed financially to the nearly £2 billion compensation bill despite acknowledging a “moral obligation” to do so.Byrne said taxpayers should not be footing the entire cost of the scandal while the company continues to benefit from public contracts.Across three redress schemes, the Horizon Shortfall Scheme, the Group Litigation Order scheme and the Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme, more than 11,500 claimants have received payments totalling about £1.48 billion so far.The Post Office said 87 per cent of eligible Horizon Shortfall Scheme applicants have received compensation offers and that about £882 million has been paid through the scheme.“We are processing applications as quickly as possible to bring resolution to those who have applied,” a spokesperson said.‘We never expected this in a democracy’ Despite the progress cited by authorities, Misra says the system still feels unchanged.“We never expected these things can happen in a democratic country,” she told the BBC.Those affected knew the legal battle would be long, she added, but not this long.For Misra and many others caught in the Horizon scandal, the fight is no longer just about money, but about proving that justice eventually reaches those who were wronged.
