East Yorkshire postmaster calls for end to wait for justice in Horizon scandal
Lee Castleton went bankrupt after being wrongfully accused
A victim of the post office Horizon scandal has called for all victims to be cleared of their convictions, fearing that some will not live to see justice.
Lee Castleton bought a post office in Bridlington in 2003 but the next year he was suspended after an audit and told to repay the £25,000 that was missing.
That missing money was caused by the faulty Horizon accounting software, which led to the wrongful conviction of over 700 postmasters for false accounting, theft and fraud.
He was eventually taken to the High Court by the Post Office where he had to represent himself. When he lost his case, the Post Office pursued him for legal costs of £321,000 which bankrupted him.
"Justice delayed is justice denied"
Mr Castleton said: "Everyone's getting older, and sadly over the course of these 20 years I've lost a number of friends from the group, they've lost their lives and never actually saw justice in their lifetime and that's not fair."
Haltemprice and Howden MP David Davis is among those to call for all victims of the scandal to be exonerated collectively rather than waiting for each individual case to be cleared.
Mr Castleton said: "Justice delayed is justice denied. People require justice to be done but because of the way the system's set up those people cannot have justice today - they should be cleared."
Both he and his family received abuse during the scandal which he said will leave its mark for the rest of their lives. His wife had anxiety attacks which caused epilepsy, and he said his daughter was spat at on the school bus, leading to anxiety and anorexia which "very nearly cost her her life."
He has joined calls for compensation, but said: "These things are going to impact our lives going forward probably for the rest of our lives and there isn't an amount of money that can make that go away. It's not about holding anyone to ransom; it's just about being fair."
Meanwhile, Downing Street says Rishi Sunak would back an investigation into stripping the former Post Office boss of her CBE, over the Horizon scandal.
Paula Vennells's honour could be revoked if a committee makes the recommendation - which is then submitted by the prime minister to the King.
Ministers are discussing how to clear the names of 100s of former staff wrongly convicted of fraud due to faulty IT software.