It stole my job, my house, my freedom and my health
Janet Skinner, 53, Hull
Unlocking the front door of my Post Office, I waved to a couple of my cheerful locals queueing outside. ‘Morning Jan,’ they chimed, following me inside.
It was 2000 and I’d worked at various Post Offices around Hull since February 1994, working my way up to the sub postmistress role.
The job fitted in perfectly around my kids, who were then 6 and 3.
And I gave the role my all, forming great relationships with my customers.
‘Where would we be without you?’ they’d say.
Before 2000, we did the accounting by hand.
But now, Post Office bosses told me a new countrywide computer system was being installed. It was called Horizon. ‘It’ll make things much easier,’ they said.
Horizon was an electronic till, that fed into a network.
We’d input our numbers and manage our accounts at the push of a button.
At first, it seemed straightforward.
Only, as time went on, the system told me I was missing significant sums of cash. Ringing Horizon, I was told I was the only one having problems.
‘It doesn’t 38 make sense,’ I fretted, recalculating my figures over and over.
Before Horizon, my numbers were always perfect.
Then, in 2006, I was visited by two managers from the Post Office who confirmed a problem with my cash flow.
They closed the store to investigate, suspended me from the job I loved.
And days later, I was brought in for an interview.
‘You’re missing £59,000,’ the managers told me. ‘What?’ I gasped. A huge sum – I couldn’t understand it.
And my contract with the Post Office was terminated.
I hadn’t stolen anything. And where was this so-called windfall?
I drove an old car, hadn’t taken the kids on holiday for years.
Worse still, the Post Office blamed me for the loss.
‘I haven’t stolen anything!’ I pleaded to managers.
But it got worse. The Post Office was taking me to court on charges of theft and false accounting.
‘I’ve done nothing wrong,’ I wept.
As my court case loomed, I couldn’t work.
Unable to pay my mortgage, I sold my house. ‘It won’t be for long,’ I promised my kids, then 17 and 14, as we heaved boxes into a run-down rental.
To fight my case, I hired a solicitor using my savings.
But everyone trusted Horizon’s figures, so, despite my innocence, I was persuaded to make a plea deal.
Admitting to submitting false accounting info, but not guilty to theft. ‘It guarantees you won’t be sent to prison,’ said my legal team. But they were wrong.
On 2 February 2007, I stood in the dock at Hull Crown Court.
With stern eyes, the judge read his decision. ‘I’m sentencing you to nine months in pris
