Post Office scandal impunity ‘needs to be extended’ to Northern Ireland – Irish Times

In a small two-story post office on Isle Tyrone, subpostmaster Deirdre Connolly was asked if she was stealing money for paramilitary groups.

That was in August 2010. She faces two fraud investigations after an audit found more than £15,000 was missing from the Post Office branch where she ran a shop in the rural village of Killett, near the Donegal border. He was being questioned by officials.

The interview took place at Omagh’s main sorting office two months after the “discrepancies” were discovered. She was suspended on the spot. She remembers being asked many times what she did with her money.

“It was a small box room and the husband was not allowed inside. He frog-ran down the stairs to Omagh’s main street and the door closed behind him,” the detective said. I was flying on a plane that morning. This was a recorded interview. He kept asking, “Have you ever been approached by a militia group?” Did they receive money for the militia? ”

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, what’s going on here?’ I was stunned. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I thought, ‘What if this gets found out? ?”that’s what I thought. I ran a shop in a village of 300 people, where everyone knew their job. ”

It took Mr Connolly and hundreds of other former British Post Office managers almost a decade to clear their names in what has been described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the history of British law.

More than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015, with some jailed for false accounting and theft. Many people went bankrupt and some committed suicide.

[ As British as fish and chips: the Post Office scandal boils over ]

[ The Irish Times view on the UK Post Office affair: a scandal followed by a cover-up ]

The scandal was caused by a flaw in a computer software system called Horizon, which made it appear as though money was missing from the Post Office shop.

Connolly, a mother of two, developed epilepsy and became reclusive.

“I was panicking and couldn’t get close to the store. I thought everyone was talking about me, so I was in such shock.”

On Wednesday, British Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the introduction of unprecedented legislation to “quickly” exonerate and compensate those affected.

Although the law does not automatically apply to Northern Ireland or Scotland, UK Postal Secretary Kevin Hollinrake insisted Downing Street was “enthusiastic” to extend its provisions.

Mr Connolly, along with other victims, watched Mr Sunak’s lunchtime announcement on television and gave it a cautious welcome.

“My first thought was, ‘Where is Northern Ireland?’” They have to include it. It’s a waiting game and they have to put their words into action. Like you, I am also very cautious. ”

Mr Sunak’s intervention comes a week after the broadcast of powerful ITV drama Mr Bates v Post Office reignited public anger over the treatment of victims.

Within days, a petition was launched seeking to have former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennels stripped of her CBE. The petition received more than 1 million signatures, and Vennels had her rights returned on Tuesday.

Connolly was one of the participants in the legal challenge brought by British Deputy Postmaster General Alan Bates (the central character in the drama) and contacted him in 2012 after his sister-in-law came across the newspaper article.

“When I called Alan Bates, he asked if the investigators were saying I was the only problem. They were. They said you were the only problem. I made you think.” I think you’re going crazy.

“The TV show changed everything. It allowed people to understand what was going on.”

Although she was not charged, she and her husband, Darius, “lost everything” and filed for bankruptcy. The couple had been married for more than 30 years and thought the village post office would be their “forever job” until they retired.

Ms Connolly is part of two WhatsApp groups for victims and is desperate for more people in Northern Ireland to come forward. She says some people are afraid to speak out because of stigma.

“I put it away and put it away in a little box in my head. Even if I close it, I don’t want to open it,” she said.

Over the past 20 years since the Horizon Accounting System was first introduced, 23 people have been prosecuted in North Korea, 19 of whom have been convicted. However, it is estimated that many more people were affected.

Belfast lawyer Michael Madden, who is representing 20 victims, said there were “more and more victims” and six more had been contacted this week.

“The initial Postal Service response to the prosecution and investigation was very insidious. They isolated people and said they were alone, knowing that hundreds of people were affected. ” he said.

“These were decent, honest workers who you would never imagine going to court.”

Mr Connolly and three other victims are due to attend a public inquiry into the scandal in London later this month, and one of the investigators who interviewed Mr Connolly at Omagh Post Office 14 years ago said: He is scheduled to appear in court as a witness.

“Ever since this happened, my motto has been I have to deal with the hand I’ve been dealt. So now I have to deal with the new hand. That’s what I’m going to do. That’s the thing.”

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