Wrongly-convicted postmaster tells how Horizon inquiry scandal 'killed his mother with shame'

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A wrongly-convicted postmaster has told a public inquiry of his fight for justice after the Horizon scandal shattered his life and “killed his mother with shame”.

Rab Thomson, who was wrongly accused of embezzlement but had his conviction overturned this year after a 20-year fight, penned a harrowing witness statement which was lodged with the inquiry this week.

The dad, from Alva, Clackmannanshire - who is still waiting for compensation - has told how he was driven to the brink of suicide after being branded a thief in his community.

The 65-year-old said: “What happened to me shattered me, hurt my wife and children and killed my mother with shame.

“I want justice. I want the world to know what was done to me and people like me up and down the country.”

More than 700 post office branch managers across the UK were prosecuted on the basis of the faulty IT system, designed by Fujitsu, which incorrectly flagged missing cash.

The scandal is considered one of the most widespread British miscarriages of justice in modern times and is currently the subject of a long-running public inquiry.

Rab took over his post office in Cambus, near Alloa, from his mother Margaret in 1999 but was prosecuted after a 2004 audit found an apparent shortfall of £5,700.

He feared he was going to be sent to prison and pled guilty on the final day of his trial on the advice of a lawyer before being sentenced to community service.

It sparked Rab’s mother to live as a recluse for several years before he found her dead at her home.

In his statement to the inquiry, Rab said: “To this day I blame myself, because I embarrassed and shamed my mother with the trouble I had at the post office.

“I had been her ‘blue eyed boy’. What happened to me broke her heart; and her shame broke my heart also.

“I, my wife and my boys will never get back the dark years when I was branded a thief and they were unable to play in the street or go to the local shops.

“Most of all my mother will never know that I did not let her down and blacken her good name.

“I was not a thief and she was not the mother of a thief.

“Hundreds of postmasters were convicted like me, but no one at the Post Office has been held to account. I want to know why no one has been held to account.”

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Rab’s case was one of six in Scotland that were referred to the High Court as a potential miscarriage of justice in November 2022.

His name was finally cleared in January but his fight for justice is far from over.

The dad’s wrongful conviction means he is entitled to an up front £600,000 settlement from the UK Government, but he has rejected the pay out and says victims dragged through courts should see seven figures.

Rab told the Record: “It takes a lot of pressure off to finally have my statement before the inquiry. Now everyone will know exactly what happened.

“What happened was heartbreaking and it’s coming up to that time of year again when my mum died so it’s going to be hard. You never get over these things.

“I got assessed for a psychiatric report back in August and they’re meant to come back with an offer of compensation, but it’s dragging on and on. It feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall at times but we have to keep going.”

A Post Office spokeswoman said: “We apologise unreservedly for the suffering caused by Post Office’s past actions. “Post Office today is doing all we can, alongside Government, to pay redress quickly and to put things right, as far as that can ever be possible.”

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