Post Office scandal may have led to more than 13 suicides, inquiry finds | Post Office Horizon scandal

According to the first findings from the public investigation, more than 13 people may have killed themselves as a result of the first findings that label the worst low justice in the history of England.

Retired Judge Sir Wyn Williams, who chaired the hearings, examines the “human impact ına on more than 1000 post office operators accused of receiving money from branches because the first 162 -page report of the 162 -page report is a shortcoming software.

In addition, in many cases, the post office and consultants are currently arguing that they accept “unnecessary hostility attitude için to make the first offers to those looking for 10,000 corrections.

Although the scandal is linked to four suicide, Williams said in March, as stated by the post office, more than 13, but some deaths were not reported. 19 people have returned to alcohol deterioration, some say they couldn’t sleep at night without drinking.

As a result of their experience with the post office, 10 out of 59 people who were considering killing themselves continued to commit suicide on more than one occasion.

A post office operator said: “The effect of the treatment that the post office was exposed to was not measured. The mental stress was so great for me that I had a mental deterioration and I returned to alcohol when I sink more.

In the report, approximately 1,000 post office operators were prosecuted and convicted by the post office between 1999-2015, but due to incorrect Ufuk accounting software, he lost losses and money in the branches and made him look fraud. 50 to 60 people, probably more were prosecuted, but did not convince.

Williams said that he had received more than 200 witness expressions from the victims and that almost all of them were “very significantly suffering and many of them endure to a very severe degree in any standard”.

The judge explained how some people were seriously ill, struggled with mental health problems and struggled with financial problems, and many of them lost their homes and/or bankruptcy.

Even the savior found themselves “excluded ında in their communities; And many of them died before compensation – reports put this figure in about 350. In some cases, family members themselves experienced psychiatric diseases and “very important financial losses ..

According to the report, there are four schemes, two of whom were merged in early June, and there are approximately 10,000 people demanding compensation, and this number is likely to rise in at least hundreds of hundreds, even if not more.

Williams said: “In difficult and important allegations, in many cases, I was convinced that the post office and consultants have adopted an unnecessary attitude to make the first proposals with the effect of suppressing the level of settlements.”

The Minister called on the post office operators to offer urgent action to offer “full and fair compensation, and asked the government and the post office to agree on a definition of the term to be followed.

Williams said that the victims should receive free legal advice financed by the government, and said, “The plaintiffs in the horizon scheme should prefer whether they should choose to consider whether or not they need to evaluate their demands. In addition, the post office operators that were affected by the scandal should receive compensation.

Williams asked the government to respond until October 10 and asked ministers to draw a program for restorative justice by the end of October with the Japanese technology company Fujitsu, who developed the post office and faulty software.

After the 225 -day investigation hearings with 298 witnesses, the report did not detail the total compensation paid so far. According to the government, more than 7,300 post office operators were paid more than 1 billion to the Horizon CT scandal until 9 June.

Compensation schemes were established They were criticized by the post office and the Ministry of Business and Trade for being very slow with payments.

When Williams claimed that he was responsible for the deficiencies in the branch of the post office’s father Lee Castleton, he contained 17 cases, including eight -year -old Millie Castleton, which was ordered to pay the post office to £ 25,858,95 plus interest and legal costs.

Millie said that bullying is the target at school: “Did your father steal anything or anything else?” At the age of 17, he suffered from depression and was diagnosed with anorexia and was forced to “take out a year in the university by the disease. At one point, he was hospitalized with heart -related diseases.

Millie says, “This nagging sound in my head says… My past and my family’s struggle will define me and that it will be a brand forever on my skin,” he said. “I am 26 years old and I am very aware that I cannot fully commit natural confidence. But my family is still fighting.

In England and Ireland, Samaritans Freephone 116 can be contacted at 123 or send an e -mail to jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. You can call or send a message in the USA. National Suicide Preventing Life Line Chat at 988 988lifeline.orgor Text To connect with the crisis advisor to 741741. Crisis support service in Australia Life line 13 11 14. Other international assistance lines can be found at this address be friendrs.org