A former subpostmaster said he “fell apart” when he was wrongfully convicted and jailed for stealing more than £200,000 due to flaws with the Post Office computer system.
Harjinder Butoy, 45, ran the Sutton-in-Ashfield post office with his wife in Nottinghamshire until he was arrested, charged and then jailed for three years and three months in 2008 for stealing £208,000.
Mr Butoy was among more than 700 subpostmasters and subpostmistresses (SPMs) prosecuted between 2000 and 2014, based on information from the Horizon IT system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu.
However, in December 2019 a High Court judge ruled that Horizon contained a number of “bugs, errors and defects” and there was a “material risk” that shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.
I kept thinking how did I end up here
The High Court overturned Mr Butoy’s conviction along with those of 38 other former postmasters in April last year.
Speaking to an inquiry into the scandal on Wednesday, Mr Butoy said his family were “destroyed” by the false conviction.
The former subpostmaster said that between 2004 and 2007, his branch had no problems passing the Post Office’s audits and was even signed off on an audit without any issues a week before his arrest.
But on April 24 2007, he was detained by Criminal Investigation Department officers after a group of people turned up to his branch to do a security audit and found £208,000 missing.
Mr Butoy said he felt “shocked”, “confused” and “ashamed” as customers watched him being taken away by the police.
In September 2008, he faced trial at Nottingham Crown Court where he maintained his innocence and questioned whether the Horizon information was correct but the Post Office argued it was “100% robust”.
It was the same for them as it was for me - we all got destroyed
When the guilty verdict came in, Mr Butoy said: “I just fell apart,” adding that he “wasn’t prepared for it”.
He was jailed for three years and three months – thought to be one of the largest sentences among the Horizon cases – and was given a £60,000 confiscation order.
Mr Butoy went on to describe his “terrible” ordeal in prison, where he lost more than six stone and was “stressed every day”.
“I kept thinking how did I end up here, just thinking about my family,” he said.
The 45-year-old said it was “awful” for his wife and three children, who had to move in with his parents in Chesterfield after shutting down the business.
“It was the same for them as it was for me – we all got destroyed,” he said.
Mr Butoy said he ended up filing for bankruptcy as he struggled to pay back the £60,000.
I had a really good reputation with the public and then I just lost it by the click
“Everything has just fallen apart for me. I have no confidence in myself anymore,” he said.
“I had a really good reputation with the public and then I just lost it by the click.”
On what he wants from the Post Office now, he said: “I want somebody to go to prison.”
William David Graham, 53, a former branch manager, said he was diagnosed with depression after being wrongly convicted of falsifying accounts.
The father of two, who had worked his way up through the Post Office since 1992, told the inquiry he used to be “the life and soul of the party”.
Mr Graham eventually left the Post Office itself to become the manager of the Riverside branch in Sevenoaks.
When they said the 32 weeks in prison, the gap before they said it was suspended - I could hear my wife scream
But shortfalls of £65,000 were incorrectly identified in 2009 and he was charged with theft and falsifying accounts before taking a plea deal in 2011.
After paying back a £5,000 shortfall found in 2004 from his own pocket, Mr Graham then discovered a £50,000 shortfall, which he chose not to report.
“That was my whole salary for a year,” he said.
“That was how I put food on the table for my wife and children.”
Auditors discovered £65,000 missing in the accounts in early 2009 and he admitted to inflating the figure to make the balance look right.
He was offered a plea deal to avoid a custodial sentence in 2011 and was handed a 32-week suspended prison sentence.
I went to the doctor and I was diagnosed with depression because I just felt worthless
“When they said the 32 weeks in prison, the gap before they said it was suspended – I could hear my wife scream,” Mr Graham said, growing visibly emotional as he described the hearing as “hell”.
Following the ordeal, he said: “I went to the doctor and I was diagnosed with depression because I just felt worthless.”
Mr Graham added: “I’ve got a wife and children at home. I couldn’t provide for them.”
On what he wants now, Mr Graham said: “I just want the Post Office to stand up and say, we knew there’s a problem, this is when it started, this is what we didn’t do, this is what we should have done and get justice for the people that have gone through this pain.”
The inquiry, which is expected to run for the rest of this year, is looking into whether the Post Office knew about faults in the IT system and will also ask how staff were made to take the blame.
Jason Beer QC, counsel to the inquiry, said during his opening that the ordeal of those affected could be concluded as “the worst miscarriage of justice in recent British legal history”
