Seema Misra, one of the most high-profile victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal, has been granted a new review of her murder case. Misra was wrongly convicted of theft in 2010 and sentenced to 15 months in prison, being jailed on her son's 10th birthday while eight weeks pregnant. She was cleared in 2021 after 11 years of fighting to prove her innocence.
The Post Office pursued over 3,500 operators with wrongful allegations of theft, fraud and false accounting over 16 years, despite known faults with the Horizon software. More than 900 were prosecuted, and at least four suicides have been linked to the scandal. Misra told the ongoing public inquiry that Post Office bosses 'acted like mafia' and had 'blood on their hands'.
Lee Castleton was made bankrupt after a two-year legal battle with the Post Office over a £25,000 shortfall caused by Horizon. He was forced to close his shop, sell his house, and move into rented accommodation. His wife suffered stress-induced seizures, and his children had to change schools due to bullying. Stephen Dilley, who represented the Post Office, admitted the company knew Castleton could not pay but wanted to 'show the world' it would defend Horizon.
Siobhan Sayer described being separated from her six-month-old daughter during a raid by investigators seeking £18,000 in missing funds. She pleaded guilty to false accounting in 2010 on her daughter's birthday, after feeling 'generally harassed and intimidated' during the investigation. She attended sentencing with a packed suitcase, expecting to be jailed.
