Post Office campaigners appointed OBEs say the fight continues

Former sub-postmasters turned campaigners in the Post Office scandal have said they will fight on after being made OBEs in the New Year Honours list.

Lee Castleton, Seema Misra, Chris Head and Jo Hamilton were honoured for services to justice.

The group were thrust into the limelight after an ITV drama showed how hundreds of sub-postmasters were wrongfully pursued and convicted for stealing, in what has been called the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.

Seema Misra, who was eight weeks pregnant when she was wrongfully imprisoned, told the BBC the honour “empowers our fight for justice even further”.

She said the honours were an acknowledgement of the “scale of the injustice and scandal”, adding that the campaign did not stop now.

Lee Castleton described it as “wonderful” to be recognised alongside his fellow campaigners.

“It’s just sad that it’s been prolonged and protracted by the other side, but onwards and upwards. Never give up.”

Mr Castleton, who was made bankrupt after losing a legal battle with the Post Office over a £25,000 shortfall at his branch in 2004, found himself in the spotlight when his case was featured in the ITV drama “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” in January.

It centred on the story of sub-postmaster Alan Bates, played by actor Toby Jones, who led and won a legal battle, paving the way for dozens of convictions to be overturned.

Sir Alan was knighted earlier this year.

Reflecting on the impact of the drama, Mr Castleton told the BBC: “Nothing warms the cockles of the public than a drama about real people.

“It’s turned us from just names on paper to actual people, which has helped our campaign. It has meant we are now listened to.”

Between 1999 and 2015 hundreds of sub-postmasters were prosecuted and convicted based on information from a faulty accounting system, Horizon, which made it look like money was missing.

Some sub-postmasters wrongfully went to prison, many were financially ruined and forced to declare bankruptcy, while others describe being shunned by their communities following convictions for false accounting and theft. Some have since died.

The wave of publicity following the ITV drama led to former Post Office boss Paula Vennells handing back her CBE, after more than a million people signed a petition calling for her to be stripped of the honour.

There has been continued anger among many victims at the slow pace at which compensation payments are being made, and the amounts being offered.

An inquiry into the scandal saw its final statements submitted just before Christmas, ending two-and-a-half years of evidence sessions.

It emerged that the Post Office has spent £132m of taxpayer money defending itself at the inquiry, according to the latest available figures.

Post Office chairman Nigel Railton has said that the Post Office is “learning from the serious failings of the past”.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “I’m pleased to see a group of Horizon sub-postmasters recognised in this New Years Honours list.

“They deserve special recognition for their tireless campaign for postmasters who have waited far too long to get justice – and whilst this government has doubled the total which has been paid out, we remain committed to seeing justice done.”