Nicky Campbell breaks down in tears live on BBC show over Post Office scandal
Nicky Campbell broke down in tears live on air while speaking to Karen Jolliffe - one of the many victims of the Post Office scandal.
The 62-year-old presenter was speaking to 77-year-old former post mistress Karen on his BBC Radio 5 Live show - which is both transmitted through the airwaves and broadcast via video link.
Karen is one of more than 700 sub-postmasters who were wrongly convicted of false accounting after Horizon, a computer program they used to calculate their accounts, became defective and counted a loss when there was not one, making it appear that there was cash missing from the balance.
Karen, from Farnborough, had been running her Post Office for 20 years when the Horizon IT system was installed in 2000 and wrongly counted a loss at her branch. Karen admits she tried to conceal the missing money, rather than make a complaint to the Post Office.
Nicky Campbell was moved to tears by the story of a Post Office Horizon scandal victim (BBC)Reflecting on the incident, she told Nicky: "I wasn't brave like all the other postmasters. I wish I was braver," she told Nicky. "I hid it and moved money around from the shop to the Post Office for about 18 months, two years. I knew I was going to be audited and when they came out I just confessed."
Radio 2 listening figures plunge as fans snub station after veteran DJs dumped
Karen went on to say she didn’t think there could have been a problem with the computer system. Breaking down, she said: "I never had a clue that it was Horizon. It never entered my head it would be a computer. I felt so stupid when I looked at Mr Bates and how he'd worked it out. Why didn't I? I'm not a stupid person really."
Nicky then encouraged Karen to share what the outcome was of the computer error. She revealed: “I pleaded guilty at the magistrates court. So then I was sentenced to a year.” Shocked, Nicky asked: “You were sent to prison?”
As she confirmed that she was indeed sent to prison for three months, Nicky became overcome with emotions. He put a hand to his mouth in shock. He later asked Karen how she felt watching the recent ITV drama Mr Bates vs. The Post Office and as she explained it was “dreadful” to watch as it reminded her of her ordeal, Nicky broke down in tears, which he wiped from his eyes.
Recent ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office recently brought the plight of former Post Office employees back into the spotlight (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Mr Bates vs. The Post Office has put the plight of the Post Office employees whose lives were destroyed by the scandal back in the spotlight. Viewers were left outraged as a cast led by Captain America actor Toby Jones dramatised how the Post Office penalised and even had staff jailed when they computer system they introduced nation wide wrongly calculated incorrect accounts for the stores’ takings.
Many subpostmasters and subpostmistresses had their livelihoods taken away from them and were forced to pay tens of thousands of pounds in ‘missing’ funds that hadn’t been missing at all. Some employees were left bankrupt by the scandal - and at least four employees committed suicide over the scandal.
This week, the Government announced emergency legislation is to be passed to vindicate the hundreds of employees who were wrongly given criminal records. And the wronged employees could go on to claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation as the ordeal finally comes to an end.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
