A former subpostmaster is starting legal action against the Post Office and Fujitsu over the Horizon IT scandal.

Lee Castleton is the first individual to sue the two organisations in the wake of the controversy.

“I want justice and to be publicly vindicated,” Mr Castleton told the BBC.

He is seeking to have a civil action taken against him by the Post Office overturned or set aside.

“I’d like to effectively have my day in court as well,” he said.

Mr Castleton was sued by the Post Office for £25,000 it said was missing from his branch in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, in 2007. His two-year legal fight saw him declared bankrupt following legal costs of £321,000.

He said he had little faith in compensation schemes set up by the Post Office for wrongfully-convicted subpostmasters.

Former Bridlington Post Office subpostmaster Lee Castleton, pictured in his home town of Scarborough. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

placeholder image — Former Bridlington Post Office subpostmaster Lee Castleton, pictured in his home town of Scarborough. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

According to the BBC, he instructed his solicitors to launch High Court proceedings against the Post Office and Fujitsu on Tuesday.

“Lee faced a David versus Goliath battle against the Post Office and we are fully ready to take this all the way to the high court should we need to,” his lawyer Simon Goldberg, from Simons Muirhead Burton, told the broadcaster.

“It was never about recovery of the sum of money – it was to make an example of Mr Castleton.”