Post Office scandal: Astwood Bank postmaster has name cleared after death

Dozens of former subpostmasters who were convicted of theft, fraud and false accounting due to the Post Office’s defective Horizon accounting system finally had their names cleared by the Court of Appeal on Friday (April 23).

The Post Office knew that there were “serious issues about the reliability” of the Fujitsu-developed IT system, which was rolled out to branches in 2000, but continued to bring “serious criminal charges against the subpostmasters on the basis of Horizon data”, the Court of Appeal said on Friday.

Overturning the convictions of 39 former subpostmasters who were convicted and even jailed based on Horizon data, Lord Justice Holroyde said the Post Office “effectively steamrolled over any subpostmaster who sought to challenge its accuracy”.

Julian Wilson, who ran a post office in Astwood Bank, Worcestershire, died before his name was cleared.

Karen and Julian Wilson. Picture: Hudgell Solicitors/PA

On Friday, his widow Karen Wilson, aged 66, said: “He had cancer. He died in 2016. He was only 67. His health deteriorated after he was suspended in 2008. I think the stress contributed. He may have still got cancer but I think it contributed.”

“I promised him I would kept on fighting. I’m not brave but this was such a massive wrong. For 13 years I have lived and breathed it. We almost lost everything.”

Mr Wilson’s daughter, Emma Jones, aged 47, described it as a "bittersweet day."

Julian and Karen Wilson bought the Post Office in Astwood Bank in 2001. After a profitable first couple of years, he started experiencing troubles with the Horizon system. When auditors finally arrived he was “delighted” as he believed the issues would finally be resolved.

At the time the accounts had a shortfall in excess of £27,000, and Julian handed over nine years’ worth of accounts for the auditors to look through.

He was suspended and told his only option was to plead guilty to false accounting, as that would prevent him from going to prison.

The couple had to sell their Post Office to pay back the money which was alleged to have gone missing.

Karen Wilson, widow of postmaster Julian Wilson who died in 2016, holds a photograph of her husband outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London, after his conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal (Yui Mok/PA)

In 2020, 12 years after Mr Wilson was convicted of false accounting, Mrs Wilson said: “He was given 300 hours community service and he used to have to go out cleaning graveyards with other criminals.

“It was heart-breaking seeing my husband, who had done nothing wrong, having to do that.

“He knew it was the system right from the start but nobody would listen. Nobody wanted to listen."

In a statement after the ruling, Post Office chairman Tim Parker said: “The Post Office is extremely sorry for the impact on the lives of these postmasters and their families that was caused by historical failures."