Still branded, still broken: Life after Post Office scandal [Exclusive]

The Post Office Horizon scandal didn’t just wrongly convict hundreds of sub post masters; it shattered lives in ways that continue to haunt its victims to this day. For some, that lasting damage means being branded a “problem figure” at workplace and unable to secure stable employment; for others, it is still a reason that drives them to the brink of suicide.

Decades since the Post Office scandal began to unfold, the lives of many victims continue to remain suspended in limbo. For many, the fight for compensation is still on. Many are over 70; for them, it is now getting tiresome and a hopeless case.

But beyond financial redress, there lies another aspect, which is the question of restoration of lost livelihood since many of them continue to struggle to find a stable livelihood and have a respectful life.

This is the story of Oxfordshire resident Shazia Saddiq and London-based Varchas Patel, whose lives are seemingly overshadowed with the scandal, so much so that even after decades, they are finding it hard to shed it off.

While Saddiq continues to struggle to secure stable employment, Varchas is bearing the emotional weight of his father’s wrongful conviction, the prolonged battle for justice, and the pain of watching his elderly parent wait endlessly for compensation, a burden that has driven him to the brink of mental breakdown more than once.

At the heart of the scandal lies Horizon, a computer system introduced by the Post Office in 1999 to manage branch accounts, that eventually became a tool of destruction.

Despite mounting evidence, the Post Office pursued criminal charges, ruining lives, livelihoods and reputations. Between 1999 and 2015, about 1,000 operators were wrongly convicted, many imprisoned, shamed in their communities, and driven to bankruptcy, breakdown or worse.

Saddiq was a single mother of two young children, when the Post Office’s faulty IT system coupled with its complete apathy and intimidation tactics rattled her life to shreds. She had three post office branches in Newcastle between 2009 and 2016.

In 2012, she was forced to pay £3,500 in installments due to an alleged shortfall.

Later in 2016, she was suspended without pay from Westgate Hill and Ryton branches over a shortfall of £39,269.97 which was later increased to £41,097.37 without much explanation.

The post offices were closed, and she was given no access to either branch.

In the months that followed, Saddiq says she was harassed and even cursed by Post Office investigator Stephen Bradshaw.

Speaking to Asian Trader, Saddiq said, “This action from the Post Office absolutely devastated my whole identity. I am branded as a thief forever.”

Saddiq was a single mother of two young children when she had to abandon her home in Newcastle upon Tyne (which was right above one of her branches)and flee the village overnight due to some angry and violent villagers threatening her, accusing her of theft.

After the initial blows of the investigation and community reaction died down, she picked herself bit by bit to sustain her life. That involved finding a new home as well as figuring out a new source of livelihood.

“I have had to retrain as a pest controller to feed my family,” she revealed.

  Former sub-postmistress Shazia Saddiq  (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) 

'Restore our lives'

Decades later, things seem to have not changed much.

Despite the Court of Appeal overturning convictions, widespread media outrage, ITV drama exposing the horrible details and 2024 primary legislation to have convictions quashed, people's perception towards the victims seems to have not changed much.

“Most recently, after so many years and also after so much awareness around the scandal, I had the most horrendous experience at my latest workplace.

“I told them at the interview stage that I am a Post Office scandal survivor. Initially, they were sympathetic, but something shifted within a few weeks,” she said.

“I was then considered a problem and frog marched off the premises as they yanked the uniform from my back. They went into my vehicle and removed the parking permit forcibly.

"They not only fired me but by the way it all happened, I was left so much embarrassed, hurt and publicly humiliated.

“Since most of the victims are brown, we get overlooked and dismissed and not taken seriously,” Saddiq pointed out.

Saddiq’s shocking revelations raise an important question, one of survival and basic dignity. She also pointed out total lack of government empathy and complete thoughtlessness towards the victims in terms of restoring their livelihood.

She stated, “It is important for me to have a job. Benefits is one thing, but I need to be employed somewhere to have a livelihood. How am I supposed to live without one?”

For Saddiq, what’s missing in the national conversation is a plan for meaningful restoration for the victims.

“I am yet to be compensated. At the same time, I am also unemployed. Who is responsible for my state?

“The victims, who wrongly lost their branches and thus their business and source of earning money, why are there no special provision for them to make them enter back into workforce?

“Why are we not offered some other way of earning their livelihood respectfully?

"Now that we all know that it was all Horizon's fault for which we were wrongly convicted, why any government never came up with a plan to restore us professionally? How are we supposed to live?

"There should be a provision within government and/or Post Office to give us some form of decent, stable, secure and equivalent employment. We still need to live and survive after all," Saddiq said.

'Delay, deflect and diminish’

While some of the victims are still struggling to find stable jobs away from the dark shadow of the scandal, for those who are elderly, it seems that the government is playing a game of wait and watch.

Not to overlook the fact that the Post Office scandal has not only ripped apart victims' lives but also engulfed their families and children.

As laid bare in Sir Wyn William’s first volume public inquiry report, at least 13 suicides have been linked to the scandal. 59 people had suicidal thoughts, and 10 attempted to act on them.

The wider mental health toll was staggering, with accounts of depression, anxiety, and at least 19 people driven to alcohol dependency.

Varchas, son of Post Office scandal victim Vipin Patel, is one such person who is still struggling badly. He feels that the scandal has “permeated every fibre” of his life.

In 2010, Vipin was charged with stealing £34,000 from the Post Office branch he ran in Horspath though his shortfalls mounted in excess of £75,000, leaving him no choice but to cash in his Royal Mail pension and sell his wife's family jewellery.

Vipin was convicted of fraud and was given an 18-week suspended prison sentence in 2011.

  Vipin Patel

Varchas shared with Asian Trader, “Since 2011 I have endured relentless harm, including the intensely hurtful experience of a minority of the residents turning against my father and the family.

“My father, deeply traumatised and suffering from severe physical and mental health issues, depends on me not only for care but also for support in legal matters.

“That too, has contributed to the weight I carry. What’s unbearable is knowing that he was suspended in 2010, when the Post Office was already aware that Horizon was unfit for purpose, yet they proceeded to maliciously prosecute him.

“There is not a single moment - awake or asleep - when the harm inflicted by the Post Office and some within the local community does not weigh heavily on my mind.

“To this day, my father remains uncompensated,” he said.

A leaked document from the Post Office between 2013-14 is now in his possession, Varchas said, adding that it is mentioned clearly in it that “once fully quantified, Mr Patel’s claim is deemed to exceed well over £1 million”.

“Why then should he be coerced into accepting £600,000 as final settlement, an amount insufficient even to clear the debts incurred from this prolonged injustice?” he asked.

Raising the concern that many hundreds with overturned convictions have similarly undervalued claims, Varchas has called for immediate release of “£600,000 as an interim payment” so that elderly claimants like his father can have some peace and comfort.

“Time is not a luxury for many elderly victims like my father. Every delay is a denial of dignity,” he said.

Varchas’ professional life is also now getting impacted, considering the mammoth toll on his mental health.

Over the last three years, his job at Transport for London has been repeatedly disrupted due to his mental health struggles.

Signed off from work multiple times, and facing family strain, Varchas revealed that in 2024, after spiraling into multiple suicidal episodes, he voluntarily admitted himself into the Priory Hospital for stabilisation.

“Though I remain committed to completing my law degree, the last three years of emotional upheaval have placed that on hold,” Varchas revealed, adding that he hopes to return to his studies once his therapy is over.

Varchas does not believe in mincing his words when it comes to lambasting those who are in power.

“When Minister Gareth Thomas was questioned at the Inquiry on Nov 8 last year by Flora Page KC about setting up £600,000 as an interim for elderly claimants, he offered ‘reflection’.

“Seven months later, we have yet to hear a response. Inaction now feels indistinguishable from disregard.

“The conduct of the Post Office, its legal teams, and the Department for Business and Trade suggests a strategy of attrition, which is delay until memory fades, until exhaustion sets in, until life itself runs out- delay, deflect and diminish.”

Light, at the end?

With Sir Williams’ public inquiry report finally out and more to follow this year, Saddiq is finally seeing a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

Among other claims, those in charge at the Post Office should have known the Horizon IT system was faulty, but “maintained the fiction that its data was always accurate”, the report said

Saddiq expressed admiration for Sir Wyn Williams and the inquiry team, particularly for how swiftly and thoroughly they grasped the complexities of the scandal. However, she felt that parts of the first report were too gentle on both the government and the Post Office.

She said she was now waiting with anticipation for the next volumes to be released, hopeful that they would bring not only clarity, but concrete action and real accountability.

“I strongly believe this is a poignant turning point in this whole scandal. Turns out, I do believe in justice despite all the unfairness,” she said.

Justice, she reflected, takes time and for many victims, far too much of it.

“We are all in the same water,” she added, “with some in different boats.”

Varchas, however, strikes a more defiant and guarded outlook.

“I had once placed great hope in this government. I do not now. If my story makes Postal Minister Gareth Thomas MP and the Department for Business and Trade uncomfortable, let it!

“Change was never born from comfort; it was born from those who refused to stop speaking even when their voices shook.

“My message to those in power, ‘you do not have the luxury of ignorance any longer. You know the harm, now act accordingly. Our patience is not infinite, nor isyour time to make it right’,” Varchas said.

Clearly, justice is not just about righting a legal wrong; it’s about repairing lives. And if the state cannot offer restoration on time, cannot offer dignity, cannot act while it still can, then the question is no longer when justice will be delivered.

It is whether this country ever truly intended to deliver it at all.