Alarm has been raised that Post Office Horizon scandal victims receiving compensation could be vulnerable to financial exploitation, after a former sub-postmaster invested £15,000 in a property firm that later collapsed.
Kanagasundaram Prince, 74, received £655,000 compensation in 2024 after years of fighting a wrongful fraud conviction linked to the faulty Horizon accounting system. He later invested £15,000 with Unique Property Investment Group, which went into administration owing £12.6 million to 529 investors.
Varchasanraj V Patel, son of Post Office Horizon scandal victim Vipin Patel, has pointed out that Prince’s case was particularly troubling because he had told the company he was a Post Office victim and that the money came from his compensation.
“The harm in this case is particularly troubling because Mr Prince had already been a victim of the Post Office scandal and had endured years of financial and emotional damage before finally receiving compensation,” Patel said in a LinkedIn post.
“That compensation was intended to recognise and, as far as money ever could, help repair some of the harm that had been caused to him. Instead, while trying to use that money to rebuild his financial security, he found himself facing the possibility of another financial loss.”
Patel said the company was therefore aware it was dealing with someone who had already suffered a serious injustice.
“Whether that knowledge played any part in how he was dealt with is something that deserves proper scrutiny,” he said.
Prince, a former sub-postmaster in Kent, was wrongly accused of stealing £44,000 from his branch. He pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation in 2012 and was given a 12-month suspended sentence. He later told the Post Office Inquiry that he had been led to believe the plea would prevent a theft charge.
His conviction was later quashed under legislation introduced in 2024.
Concerns over compensation
Patel also raised concerns about the public association of a £600,000 fixed settlement with victims whose Horizon convictions were overturned or quashed.
Although the fixed settlement is optional and not every victim receives £600,000, Patel said publicly announcing the figure could “put a target on the backs” of claimants.
“These are people who have already lost so much,” he said. “And many are now older and trying to rebuild what they can.”
“They shouldn't then have to worry that the very compensation paid because of the harm done to them could make them vulnerable to being identified, approached or taken advantage of again.”
According to an investigation by The Times, Unique Property Investment had marketed itself as a property investment business focused on supported and assisted living accommodation.
Its website claimed more than £10 million in assets, while a March 2025 brochure said it owned three development sites, had five more in development and held a contract to deliver 20,000 assisted living units. However, administrators found that only two properties had been purchased in the company’s name.
The report claims that they also identified spending on non-housing-related items, including a £270,000 McLaren 765LT, and said company accounts appeared to show £346,000 spent on watches, cars and designer clothing.
The company's directors, Christian Woollard and Lewis Mark Hall, had outstanding loan accounts totalling £1.1 million, according to administrators. Woollard has disputed aspects of the report, saying the figures should not be treated as findings of wrongdoing and that £6.2 million had been repaid to investors during his time at the company.
The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit is investigating reports of fraud connected with Unique Property Group.