‘It nearly killed me’: York postmistress relieves fraud ordeal at Horizon inquiry – The Yorkshire Post says

WENDY MARTIN was proud to work behind the counter in local post offices and thought she was doing the right thing when she took over the branch in Crichton Avenue, York, after borrowing £22,000 to pay for improved access for disabled customers.
A screen grab dated 17/02/22 from Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry of Wendy Martin, who is a former subpostmistress has said the stress of dealing with the Post Office's faulty IT system "nearly killed" her after it repeatedly caused shortfalls in her accounts, the inquiry has heard.A screen grab dated 17/02/22 from Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry of Wendy Martin, who is a former subpostmistress has said the stress of dealing with the Post Office's faulty IT system "nearly killed" her after it repeatedly caused shortfalls in her accounts, the inquiry has heard.
A screen grab dated 17/02/22 from Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry of Wendy Martin, who is a former subpostmistress has said the stress of dealing with the Post Office's faulty IT system "nearly killed" her after it repeatedly caused shortfalls in her accounts, the inquiry has heard.

“I was stupid. I thought I was securing my future,” she lamented.

Little did she realise that she was signing away the rest of her life after becoming embroiled in the Post Office’s Horizon IT scandal that saw thousands of postmasters effectively persecuted – financially, emotionally and mentally – over an accounting error which was not their fault.

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The Post Office accounting scandal continues to shock the nation.The Post Office accounting scandal continues to shock the nation.
The Post Office accounting scandal continues to shock the nation.

Even now, more than five years after she shut in branch because she could no longer handle the “stress”, she is a shadow of a former self and ravaged by depression as she continues to count her losses – both in terms of money and health – in a shocking case which has now earned its own infamy as Britain’s largest ever miscarriage of justice.

And it is important that Ms Martin, and every other postmaster who saw their reputations ruined by intransigent and insensitive Post Office bosses, are praised for having the courage to relive their harrowing ordeal at the public inquiry now underway in order to set the record straight. “It nearly killed me,” she said.

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Not only will such testimony remind Ministers – including Chancellor Rishi Sunak – that current compensation arrangements are woefully inadequate, but it will also enable culpable Post Office executives to be held to account and, hopefully, shamed former boss Paula Vennells CBE, and others, being stripped of their now totally discredited honours.

The Post Office accounting scandal continues to shock the nation.The Post Office accounting scandal continues to shock the nation.
The Post Office accounting scandal continues to shock the nation.

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