Two sub-postmasters who appeared on The One Show in 2014 after being wrongly accused of financial shortfalls linked to the faulty Horizon computer system have reunited with the programme. Presenter Alex Jones returned to meet Steve and Sue, who were among those who spoke out about the scandal, to discover how their lives have changed as the show celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Sue's emotional reunion
Sue, who was wrongly accused of stealing £22,500 from the branch she ran in Cornwall, broke down in tears as she recalled the impact. Although the Post Office eventually dropped the case, she said she never returned to the job she loved. “I lost my home, I lost everything, literally I lost everything and most of all I lost me,” she told Alex.
Sue also paid tribute to The One Show for giving victims a platform. “Without you being there, and the drama, we probably wouldn’t have been here,” she said. She has since been awarded £75,000, allowing her to retire, and has bought a new home in Cornwall. “It will always be a part of me, a part of my story but yes it’s definitely back on track,” she said.
Steve still faces discrepancies
Steve, who ran a post office in Nelson, Caerphilly, was wrongly accused of a £44,000 shortfall. When he first appeared on The One Show in December 2014, he warned that he feared the Post Office would eventually demand the missing money from him. More than a decade later, he is still running the branch and says he continues to experience discrepancies with the system.
Showing Alex his latest figures, he said: “I’m still getting ups and downs as you can see by this here, Thursday £1.44 down, Friday £276 down. The Post Office say they want me to put that money back in.” Asked how he finds the strength to carry on, he replied: “For the community, basically… I haven’t had one sort of negative comment about it at all. People around here will listen.”
Retirement and mixed emotions
Like Sue, Steve has also been awarded £75,000 and has decided he will retire from the branch soon. He admitted that walking away will bring mixed emotions. “Relief in some ways and then a bit of sadness,” he said of how he expects to feel when he finally retires.
The scandal has been described as one of the UK's most serious miscarriages of justice. Hundreds of sub-postmasters were prosecuted after faulty Horizon accounting data appeared to show money was missing from their branches. The One Show’s Post Office feature aired on Tuesday, August 11 on BBC One as part of the week of celebrations of 20 Years of The One Show.
