Susan Hazzleton gave evidence to the Post Office Horizon inquiry
(Picture: Post Offfice Inquiry)A subpostmistress who was wrongly prosecuted 20 years ago thanks to flaws in the Post Office computer system is being forced to sell her home as a result of the scandal, she told an inquiry.
Susan Hazzleton, 68, was among more than 700 Post Office workers who were hauled in for questioning and charged with fraud and theft offences over fictitious cash shortfalls, in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
Mrs Hazzleton said she was threatened with a prison sentence, shunned in the village where she lives, and is still feeling the financial consequences more than two decades later.
“As a result of what the Post Office did, I had to change to an interest-only mortgage, so now when I should be retiring I will have to sell my house”, she said.
“I should have been sitting comfortably with a village shop which would have been something for our children.
“I hate the Post Office. I hate what they stand for because they must have known that there were problems and they have hidden them, hidden behind government money, because they can.”
Demanding a “huge apology”, Mrs Hazzleton said she has not yet received interim payments from the Post Office after she was part of a mass lawsuit over the scandal.
A public inquiry is investigating the impact of flaws in the Horizon IT system, which led to hundreds of Post Office subpostmasters and subpostmistresses being wrongly prosecuted, accused of theft, fraud, and false accounting, stripped of their businesses, and facing ostracization by their friends and customers.
Mrs Hazzleton said she and her husband bought into a Post Office in Little Waltham, near Chelmsford in Essex, in 1995 and initially did their accounts on paper.
But by 2001, after being moved on to the Horizon accounting system, unexpected shortfalls in money started to appear.
“It was like a snowball, it was frightening, and I kept asking for help”, said the mother-of-two, telling the inquiry that the Post Office helpline was of little assistance.
Eventually she paid off a £4,300 shortfall, after being told it was her responsibility to settle it, and was then accused of stealing £300.
Mrs Hazzleton said she was questioned without a lawyer present by “intimidating” Post Office investigators, she was suspended despite an audit finding no discrepancies in her accounts, and she was told “we will see you in court”.
“They took all the things of value and left us with an empty Post Office, an empty safe, and their stupid computer”, she said.
Mrs Hazzleton said she was then questioned over seven hours at a police station, and was charged with theft – with a report of the criminal case appearing in the local newspaper.
“I had the court proceedings hanging over me for 18 months, 18 horrible months, which was a cruel thing to do to someone,” she said, fighting back tears.
The case against her was set down for trial, but the night before the case was due to begin she learned that no evidence was to be offered against her.
“I thought I was going to go to prison – I had been told I could get a custodial sentence”, she said.
“I’m not familiar with the law, I didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was I was frightened, I had done nothing wrong, and I was frightened.”
She described freezing food on the eve of her criminal trial to provide for her husband and nine-year-old twins if she was sent to prison.
Asked about the reaction of the local community, she told the inquiry her children were subjected to bullying at school and she was shunned by former customers.
“I was ignored, people crossed the street when they saw me”, she said. “I could hear people talking about me.”
Mrs Hazzleton added: “I want a huge apology because I did nothing, absolutely nothing.
“It’s gnawed away at me for nearly 21 years, gnawed away at my piece of mind, gnawed away at my trust in organisations.
“It has made me wonder what the legal system is like in this country, that I had to go through 18 months of not knowing what was going to happen.
“I had filled up my freezer with nutritious meals for my partner and children, I had done a lot of things so that if I went to prison they would be well cared for, for a certain amount of time.
“Every day I was physically sick because I didn’t know what was going to happen. Frightened for me, frightened for my family.
“I hated being in that position. Unless you have gone through that, it’s hard to believe.”
The inquiry continues.
