Innocent Sutton sub-postmaster caught up in Post Office Horizon scandal tells inquiry his life has ‘fallen apart’

Harjinder Butoy has this week been giving evidence at a public inquiry examining the wrongful convictions of hundreds of subpostmasters and mistresses as part of the Horizon saga.

In 2008, a jury found Harjinder guilty of stealing £208,000 from the Forest Side sub-post office in Sutton, which he ran with his wife Balbinder – a crime he did not commit.

The dad-of-three endured 18 months behind bars – and his conviction was finally overturned at the Court of Appeal last year.

He is one of dozens of other Post Office workers to have their convictions for theft and fraud quashed and removed from their records after it emerged there were serious flaws with the Horizon IT system, installed and maintained by Fujitsu.

In December 2019, a judge ruled Horizon contained a number of ‘bugs, errors and defects’ and there was a ‘material risk’ shortfalls in Post Office branch accounts were caused by the system.

The Post Office has apologised for the scandal – described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history.

Speaking at the public inquiry, Harjinder told how he and his family have been ‘destroyed’ by the false conviction.

He said he felt ‘shocked’, ‘confused’ and ‘ashamed’ as customers watched him being taken away by the police.

When the guilty verdict came in, Harjinder said he ‘just fell apart’, adding he ‘wasn’t prepared for it’.

He went on to describe his ‘terrible’ ordeal in prison, where he lost more than six stones and was ‘stressed every day’.

“I kept thinking how did I end up here, just thinking about my family,” he said.

‘Destroyed’

The 45-year-old said it was ‘awful’ for his wife and three children, who had to move in with his parents after shutting down the business.

“It was the same for them as it was for me – we all got destroyed,” he said.

Harjinder said he ended up filing for bankruptcy as he struggled to pay back a £60,000 confiscation order.

“Everything has just fallen apart for me – I have no confidence in myself anymore,” he said.

“I had a really good reputation with the public and then I just lost it by the click.”

At the end of last year, the Government announced it had agreed to foot the bill for a compensation scheme for those wrongfully convicted.

The Post Office said it was unable to cover the payments for the exonerated individuals – so the Government, as the Post Office’s sole shareholder, has confirmed it will pay.

Mr Butoy said then: “Compensation is not going to cover everything.

“I was in prison for 18 months, but it feels like I’ve been in prison for 14 years because I’ve been fighting to clear my name for so long.

“Someone on the other side needs to be charged for this and sent down.”

The inquiry, which is expected to run for the rest of this year, is looking into whether the Post Office knew about faults in the IT system and will also ask how staff were made to take the blame.

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