Lee Castleton OBE, one of the victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, has launched a landmark £4.487 million legal claim against the Post Office and Fujitsu, stated a report today (Aug 6), citing court documents.
This marks the first time a sub-postmaster has pursued individual legal action against both organisations in the wake of the Post Office Horizon scandal, and the first time the full forensic breakdown of such a claim has been made public.
Castleton is demanding financial redress for a wide range of damages, including lost earnings, pension losses, property devaluation, reputational harm, and mental distress. His legal team allege the Post Office’s original legal action against him was an “abuse of process” and that the judgement obtained against him in 2007 was based on fraud.
The Bridlington-based former sub-postmaster had been ordered to repay £25,000 in alleged shortfalls after Horizon wrongly flagged accounting errors.
Unable to afford legal representation after his insurance ran out, Castleton represented himself in court and was handed a £321,000 legal bill, forcing him into bankruptcy.
It was the only civil claim the Post Office brought against a sub-postmaster, and the official Horizon Inquiry later heard the organisation was aware the action would likely bankrupt him, but pursued it to set an example and discourage others from taking legal steps.
The documents, as reported by BBC, outline the following key financial losses:
- £940,000 in past lost earnings
- £864,000 in projected future earnings
- £933,000 in pension losses
- £133,000 in property-related losses
- £232,000 in lost rental profits
- £109,000 from the forced sale of his business
In addition to these, Castleton is seeking general damages, including:
- £30,000 for mental distress
- £30,000 for damage to reputation
- £45,000 for harassment
- £50,000 for maliciously causing bankruptcy
Castleton, who was awarded an OBE for his campaigning, has not applied to the official Horizon compensation scheme, citing a lack of trust in its fairness.
Instead, he is pursuing justice through the courts, seeking to have both the original civil judgement and the bankruptcy order against him overturned.
His legal team alleges the Post Office, in coordination with Horizon supplier Fujitsu, “deliberately and dishonestly” withheld key evidence, including known bugs, errors, and the ability of Fujitsu engineers to remotely access branch accounts without the operators’ knowledge.
They further claim that the Post Office’s decision not to call former Fujitsu expert witness Gareth Jenkins at the original trial was based on undisclosed concerns over his conduct in earlier prosecutions.
Castleton was among the 555 sub-postmasters who took part in the landmark 2019 High Court case against the Post Office, which revealed widespread flaws in the Horizon system.
Although that case ended in a mediated settlement, Castleton contends it does not cover his current claim, alleging that the Post Office’s failure to disclose the full extent of Horizon’s unreliability undermines the validity of the original settlement.